HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

By  Samuel  Eliot  Morison 


2  hH^. 


L  I  E)  RAR.Y 

OF  THL 

U  N  IVLR5ITY 

Of    ILLINOIS 

B 

0873m 

v.l 

cop,2 


rr" 


111.    Hist,    survey 


THE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

OF 

HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

1765-1848 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOLUME  I 


THE  MBRARY 

or  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF 

HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

FEDERALIST 

1765-1848 

BY 

SAMUEL  ELIOT  MORISON,  Ph.D.  (Harv.) 

WITH  PORTRAITS  AND  OTHER 
ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOL.  I 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

1913 


COPYRIGHT,    I913,    BY   SAMUEL   ELIOT    MORISON 
ALL   UIGHTS    RESERVED 

Published  November  iqi^ 


V,  1 

cop.  Z. 


TO  MY  MOTHER 


55;:;;2545 


Tell  me,  ye  learned,  shall  we  for  ever  be  adding 
so  much  to  the  bulk  —  so  little  to  the  stock  ? 

Shall  we  for  ever  make  new  books,  as  apotheca- 
ries make  new  mixtures,  by  pouring  only  out  of  one 
vessel  into  another? 

Are  we  for  ever  to  be  twisting,  and  untwisting 
the  same  rope?  for  ever  in  the  same  track  —  for 
ever  at  the  same  pace? 

Shall  we  be  destined  to  the  days  of  eternity,  .  .  . 

to  be  shewing  the  relicks  of  learning,  as  monks  do 

the  relicks  of  their  saints  —  without  working  one 

—  one  single  miracle  with  them? 

—  Life  and  Opinions  of   Tristram  Shandy,  Gentleman 

Vol.  V,  Chap.  I. 


PREFACE 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  attempted  to  describe  the 
life  of  a  man  of  \ngorous  and  fascinating  personality,  who 
was  born  in  Boston  ten  years  before  the  Revolution  com- 
menced, who  entered  national  politics  during  Washing- 
ton's second  administration,  who  was  a  leader  in  the  in- 
teresting movement  that  culminated  in  the  Hartford 
Convention  of  1814,  and  who  lived  to  take  a  part  in  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1848.  Harrison  Gray  Otis  was 
not  a  great  statesman,  but  rather  a  typical  representative 
of  that  political  and  social  organization  which  has  passed 
into  history  under  the  name  of  the  Federal  or  Federalist 
party.  This  fact  alone  has  made  his  biography  worth 
WTiting  from  a  historical  point  of  view.  I  have  endeavored 
therefore,  not  only  to  relate  the  events  of  his  life,  but 
critically  to  describe  his  ideas,  his  feelings,  and  his  preju- 
dices, and  to  discover  the  motives  guiding  his  action  in 
the  political  crises  of  his  day.  I  have  not  confined  myself, 
however,  to  political  biography,  for,  in  addition  to  being 
a  politician,  Otis  was  an  orator  and  a  lawyer  of  the  very 
first  rank,  a  leader  in  social  life,  and  a  man  whose  person- 
ality did  much  to  influence  the  community  in  which  he 
lived. 

I  may  as  well  confess  to  my  readers  at  the  start  that  I 
am  a  descendant  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  four  generations 
removed.  Contrary  to  general  opinion,  I  believe  that  a 
statesman's  biography  can  best  be  WTitten  by  a  de- 
scendant, if  he  can  preserve  the  natural  sympathy  that 
comes  from  kinship  and  family  tradition,  without  sacri- 
ficing historical  judgment  and  criticism.  My  readers  can 


X  PREFACE 

best  judge  how  far  I  have  succeeded  in  keeping  the 
balance. 

The  materials  for  this  work  have  been  drawn  primarily 
from  the  papers  that  Otis  left  behind  him.  They  are  now 
used  for  literary  purposes  for  the  first  time.  Confident, 
as  I  am,  that  the  well-springs  of  political  action  can  be 
traced  mainly  through  the  personal  correspondence  of  the 
actors,  I  have  quoted  freely  from  the  Otis  manuscripts, 
and  printed  such  documents  of  historical  value  as  are  too 
long  to  be  incorporated  in  the  text,  after  the  chapters 
that  they  illustrate.  Other  contemporary  political  corre- 
spondence now  available,  as  well  as  newspapers  and  offi- 
cial sources,  has  been  utilized,  and  an  earnest  search  has 
been  made  for  manuscript  material  outside  the  usual  re- 
positories. For  secondary  material,  the  few  sketches  of 
Otis's  life  printed  heretofore  have  proved  of  little  value, 
beyond  giving  details  of  his  early  life;  but  the  general 
works  and  monographs  covering  the  period  have  afforded 
me  much  assistance. 

All  quotations  from  manuscript  sources  are  given  with- 
out change  of  wording,  capitalization,  spelling,  or  punc- 
tuation, with  the  exception  that  canceled  passages  have 
been  suppressed,  raised  letters  have  been  reduced  to  the 
line  of  the  text  (Gov'  rendered  as  Govr.,  y^  as  ye,  etc.), 
and  in  punctuation,  the  dash,  where  obviously  ending 
a  sentence,  has  been  replaced  by  a  period.  In  a  very 
few  instances  punctuation  has  been  supplied  where  the 
lack  of  it  obscured  the  meaning.  It  will  be  understood 
that  all  matter  printed  in  the  smaller  type  is  quoted. 

This  undertaking  would  have  been  impossible  without 
the  assistance  and  advice  rendered  by  many  individuals 
and  institutions.  I  am  indebted  most  of  all  to  Professor 
Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  at  whose  suggestion  this  work  was 
begun,  and  under  whose  direction  and  encouragement  it 


PREFACE  xi 

has  been  carried  out;  to  Professors  Edward  Channing 
and  Frederick  J.  Turner  for  their  helpful  criticism;  to 
Mr.  Charles  K.  Bolton,  for  granting  me  every  facility  at 
the  Boston  Athenaeum;  and  to  Mr.  Worthington  C.  Ford, 
for  opening  to  me  the  manuscript  collections  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  for  giving  me  his 
constant  personal  interest  and  cooperation.  Finally,  what- 
ever merit  my  book  may  possess  is  due  primarily  to  the 
historical  training  that  I  have  received  at  Harvard 
University. 

Boston, 
December,  1912. 


CONTENTS 

I.   Family  and  Childhood.   1765-1775,  ^t.  1-10  1 

Forbears  —  Patriot  Otises  and  Tory  Grays  —  Child- 
hood in  Boston  —  Latin  school  —  Reminiscences  of 
April  19,  1775. 

II.   Boyhood  and  Youth.   1775-1783,  JEt.  10-18        .     15 

Life  at  Barnstable  —  Return  to  Boston  —  Changed 
conditions  —  Activities  of  Otis's  father  —  Death  of  his 
mother  —  At  Harvard  College. 

III.  Law  and  Business.   1783-1796,  ^t.  18-31     .       .    27 

Bankruptcy  of  his  father  —  Studies  law  with  John 
Lowell  —  Shays's  Rebellion  —  Legal  business  —  Wash- 
ington's inauguration  —  Marriage  —  Stage  plays  — 
Loyalist  property  —  A  leading  lawyer  —  Copley  pur- 
chase. 

IV.  A    Hamiltonian    Federalist.     1794-1796,   ^Et. 
29-31 45 

The  growth  of  two  national  parties  —  Situation  in 
Massachusetts  —  The  Essex  Junto  —  Influence  of  the 
French  Revolution  —  Otis's  political  debut  —  "Second 
Shirt  Speech"  —  Elected  to  Congress. 

V.  The  French  Peril.   1796-1798,  .Et.  31-33    .       .    59 

Situation  in  1797  —  The  Fifth  Congress  —  Maiden 
speech  —  American  policy  of  France  —  Danger  of 
invasion  —  Letter  to  General  Heath  —  French  influ- 
ence in  Congress. 

VI.  The  Crisis  of  1798,  ^t.  32 72 

First  two  sessions  of  the  Fifth  Congress  —  Lyon  affair 
—  The  X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches  and  their  effect  —  Letters 
to  and  from  Jonathan  Mason,  General  Heath,  T.  H. 
Perkins,  John  Gardner. 


xiv  CONTENTS 

VII.  Defense  and  Reprisal.   1798,  ^t.  32    .       .       .97 

Federalist  policy  of  1798  —  Army  and  Navy  Acts  — 
Question  of  hidden  motives  —  Naval  retaliation. 

VIII.   A  System  of  Terror.   1798,  ^t.  32       .       .       .  106 

Otis's  part  in  the  Naturalization,  Alien,  and  Sedition 
Acts  —  His  defense  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  punish 
seditious  libel  —  Letter  from  Judge  Stor3\ 

IX.  The  Republican  Court.    1797-1801,  ^t.  32-35  125 

Social  life  in  Philadelphia,  as  told  in  Otis's  letters  —  In 
Washington,  1800-1801  —  Visit  to  Mount  Vernon. 

X.   Adams  Asserts  Himself.   1798-1799,  .Et.  33-34  151 

The  envoys  in  Paris  —  Otis's  visit  to  Adams  and  Gerry 
—  His  reelection  —  Federalist  intolerance  —  Divisions 
in  the  party  —  Hamilton's  war  policy  —  Adams  decides 
for  peace  —  Otis  tries  to  heal  the  breach  —  Essex  Junto 
opinions  —  Letters  on  French  relations  and  the  Logan 
affair. 

XI.   Intrigue  and  Defeat.   1799-1800,  .Et.  33-35     .  176 

The  Sixth  Congress;  elections  and  debates  —  Intrigues 
against  Adams  —  Otis  vs.  Pickering  —  Electioneering 
in  1800  —  Letters  from  R.  G.  Harper. 

XII.   Jefferson  or  Burr?   1800-1801,  JEt.  35      .       .  199 

Otis's  last  session  in  Congress  —  The  attempt  to  renew 
the  Sedition  Act  —  The  Judiciary  Act  —  Midnight 
appointments  —  Election  in  the  House  —  End  of  an 
era  —  Letters  from  Samuel  Sewall,  Theophilus  Parsons 
and  Otis. 

XIII.   Harry  Otis,  Friend  and  Host        ....  217 

Character  and  personality  —  Not  a  Puritan  —  Ap- 
pearance —  Friends  and  enemies  —  Relations  with 
the  Adamses  —  Wit  —  Social  Life  in  Boston  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  —  Clubs  —  Fed- 
eralism in  society  —  Otis's  houses  —  HospitaUty  — 
Eating  and  drinking  —  Old  Madeira. 


CONTENTS  XV 

XIV.  Family  Relations  —  Expansion  —  Literature 
—  Oratory  —  Harvard  College.  1801-1816, 
^t.   36-51 235 

Otis's  tastes  primarily  domestic  —  Refusal  of  a  nomi- 
nation for  governor  —  The  Otis  family  —  Grays  and 
Turners  —  Material  expansion  —  Literary  revival  — ■ 
Otis  and  William  Tudor  —  Otis  as  an  orator  —  Rela- 
tions with  Harvard  College  —  Student  rebellions  — ■ 
Ticknor's  reforms. 

XV.   Calm,     Conspiracy,     and     the    Chesapeake 

Affair.   1802-1807,  ^Et.  36-42 257 

Otis  in  the  State  Legislature  —  Judicial  reforms  — 
Banking  schemes  —  Federalism  and  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  —  Ely  Amendment  —  Secession  plot  of  1804 
—  Decline  of  Federalism  —  Foreign  affairs  —  Boston 
and  the  Cliesapeake  —  Letters  of  John  Rutledge, 
R.  G.  Harper,  Otis,  and  Harrison  Gray. 

XVI.  The  Federalist  Machine.  1800-1823,  yEt.  35-58  286 

Growth  of  a  Federalist  party  organization  in  Massa- 
chusetts —  The  Legislative  Caucus  in  session  —  The 
Central  Committee  —  Methods  of  nomination  —  The 
machine  in  Boston  —  Election  Day  —  Political  din- 
ners —  Educating  the  voter  —  A  national  Federalist 
Club  —  Presidential  nominations  :  Secret  Federalist 
National  Conventions  of  1808  and  1812  —  Letters 
illustrating  Federalist  methods. 

XVII.  Jefferson's  Embargo.   1807-1808,  .Et.  42-43    .  321 

Objects  of  the  Embargo  —  Its  economic  effect  — 
Essex  Junto  views  —  Federalist  recovery  in  New 
England  —  Recall  of  John  Quincy  Adams  —  Otis 
at  the  parting  of  the  ways  —  Boston's  plea  for  miti- 
gation —  The  Election  of  1808  —  Letters  of  Josiah 
Dwight  and  George  Cabot. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Harrison  Gray  Otis   {Photogravure)     .      .      .  Frontispiece 

From  a  portrait  by  Chester  Harding,  1830.  In  the  possession  of 
Mrs.  John  Holmes  Morison. 

The  Parents  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis      .      .      .      .16 

Samuel  AUjTie  Otis,  from  a  portrait  by  Stuart,  and  Elizabeth  Gray 
Otis,  from  a  portrait  by  Copley.  In  the  possession  of  Harrison 
Gray  Otis,  Esq. 

Sally  Foster  Otis  (Mrs.  Harrison  Gray  Otis)  .       .  126 

From  a  miniature  by  Malbone,  In  the  possession  of  Miss  Sophia 
Harrison  Ritchie. 

A  Letter  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis 150 

From  the  original  in  the  Otis  Manuscripts. 

Inside  Page  of  a  Circular  Letter  of  the  Federal- 
ist Central  Committee  of  Massachusetts 
From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Sarah  L.  Guild. 


ABBREVIATIONS  USED  IN  FOOTNOTES 


Amer.  Hist.  Rev.  American  Historical  Review.    Vols,  i-xvii  (1895- 

1912). 

Gibbs  George  Gibbs  (ed.).  Memoirs  of  the  Administrations 

of  Washington  and  Adams,  edited  from  the  papers  of 
Oliver  Wolcott.  2  vols..  New  York,  1846. 

King  Charles  R.  King,  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of 

Rufus  King.  6  vols..  New  York,  1894-1900. 

Loring  James  S.  Loring,  The  Hundred  Boston  Orators.  Bos- 

ton, 1852. 

New  Eng.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg.    New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register. 
Vols.  I-Lxvi  (1847-1912). 


N.  E.  Federalism 

Niles 

Otis'  Letters 

Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Sac. 


Henry  Adams  (ed.).  Documents  relating  to  New  Eng- 
land Federalism,  1800-1816.  Boston,  1877. 

Hezekiah  Niles  (ed.).  The  Weekly  Register.  Balti- 
more, 1810-1848. 

H.  G.  Otis,  Otis'  Letters  in  Defence  of  the  Hartford 
Convention.  Boston,  1824. 

Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 
Vols,  i-xx  (6rst  series,  1791-1886) ;  2d  ser.,  vols,  i- 
XX  (second  series,  1887-1906) ;  vols,  xli-xlv  (third 
series,  1907-1912). 


References  to  the  Works  of  Hamilton,  JeflFerson,  and  Madison,  are  to  the 
"Congress,"  editions  (1851,  1856,  and  1865,  respectively). 

All  letters,  documents,  and  quotations  are  from  the  original  papers  in  the 
Otis  MSS.,  imless  reference  to  another  source  is  given  in  a  footnote. 


THE   LIFE  AND  LETTEES  OF 
HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

CHAPTER  I 

FAMILY    AND    CHILDHOOD 
1765-1775,  ^T.  1-10 

Harrison  Gray  Otis  was  born  in  Boston,  on  the  8th 
day  of  October,  1765.  At  that  time  every  one  of  his  three 
names  stood  for  respectability  and  long-established  posi- 
tion in  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  name 
of  Otis,  in  particular,  was  already  famous  throughout  the 
British  Empire. 

With  his  birth,  the  Otis  family  reached  its  sixth  genera- 
tion in  America.^  The  pioneers  of  the  family,  John  Otis, 
father  and  son,  were  yeomen  of  Glastonbury,  Somerset- 
shire, whence  they  emigrated  during  the  third  decade  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  settled  at  Hingham  in  the 
colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  younger  John  later 
removed  to  the  township  of  Barnstable,  in  the  lower 
part  of  Cape  Cod,  and  there,  near  the  "Great  Marshes," 
built  the  substantial  homestead  that  sheltered  future 
generations  of  Otises.  Nothing  further  seems  to  be  known 

^  The  facts  regarding  the  earlier  Otises  are  taken  from  H.  N.  Otis,  "Gene- 
alogical and  Historical  Memoir  of  Otis  Family  "  {New  Eng.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg., 
II,  281;  IV,  143;  also  published  separately,  Boston,  1850);  Eliot's  Biographical 
Dictionary ;  A.  Otis  &  C.  F.  Swift,  Genealogical  Notes  of  Barnstable  Families  ; 
W.  H.  Whitmore,  The  Mass.  Civil  List  (Albany,  1870) ;  Alice  Brown,  Mercy 
Warren,  and  Wm.  Tudor,  James  Otis.  The  family  name,  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  was  spelled  indifferently  Otis,  Ottis,  Oates,  Otey. 


2  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

about  him,  except  that  he  was  fined  forty  shillings  for 
selling  cider  in  1675,  and  died  in  1683. 

John  Otis  the  third,  born  at  Hingham  in  1657,  eldest 
son  of  the  cider-selling  John,  attained  membership  in  the 
colonial  aristocracy  by  the  familiar  route  of  law  and  pub- 
lic service.  Judge  Otis,  as  he  was  generally  called,  held  va- 
rious military  and  judicial  appointments  in  Barnstable 
County,  and  represented  the  town  of  Barnstable  for 
twenty  successive  years  in  the  Great  and  General  Court. 
In  1708  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  His  Majesty's  Council 
for  Massachusetts,  the  highest  position  that  the  colony 
could  offer  a  native  son,  and  until  his  death  in  1727  he  was 
annually  reelected  to  that  honourable  board.  His  char- 
acter was  easy-going  and  genial,  with  the  same  humor 
and  charm  of  manner  for  which  his  great-grandson,  Har- 
rison Gray  Otis,  became  famous.  His  sixth  child  James, 
the  grandfather  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  was  born  in  1702. 

James  Otis,  like  his  father,  was  largely  self-educated, 
and  followed  a  similar  career;  but  he  possessed  an  en- 
tirely different  temperament.  His  portrait  by  Copley 
shows  a  man  forcible  in  his  opinions,  conscious  of  his  dig- 
nity, and  lacking  any  trace  of  humor.  "Colonel"  James 
(as  he  was  called,  in  order  to  distinguish  him  from  his 
famous  son  of  the  same  name) ,  studied  law,  became,  ac- 
cording to  John  Adams,  the  "undisputed  head  of  the  bar 
in  Barnstable,  Plymouth,  and  Bristol  Counties,"  and  in 
1748  received  the  appointment  of  Attorney-General  of 
the  Province.  Three  years  before  Harrison  Gray  Otis 
was  born,  in  1762,  this  distinguished  lawyer  was  elected 
for  the  first  time  to  the  Council. 

Colonel  Otis's  gradual  rise  in  the  estimation  of  his  con- 
temporaries is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  his  eldest  son's 
name  was  placed  eleventh  in  a  class  of  thirty-one  on  the 
records  of  Harvard  College,  and  his  youngest  son's,  second 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD  3 

in  a  class  of  thirty-five. ^  He  never  permanently  joined  the 
court  circles  at  Boston,  however,  but  resided  in  his  grand- 
father's homestead  at  Barnstable,  where  thirteen  children 
were  born  to  him  and  his  wife  Mary  Allyne.  Infant 
mortality  was  high  in  colonial  days,  even  under  the  best 
conditions,  and  no  less  than  six  of  the  thirteen  died  within 
six  months  of  their  births.  But  the  record  of  the  survivors 
shows  that  quality  was  not  sacrificed  to  quantity  in  the 
family  of  James  and  Mary  Otis.  Of  the  six  who  reached 
maturity,  Joseph  and  Samuel  were  fairly  prominent  in  the 
American  Revolution,  and  James  and  Mercy  became 
leaders  in  the  same  cause. 

Samuel  Allyne  Otis,  the  father  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
was  the  tenth  child  of  this  large  family,  and  the  youngest 
of  those  who  reached  maturity.  He  was  born  in  1740, 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1759,  and  then  re- 
turned to  the  parental  roof  with  the  intention  of  taking 
up  the  study  of  law.  At  that  time  his  eldest  brother  and 
senior  by  fifteen  years,  James  Otis  "the  Patriot,"  had 
resided  nearly  a  decade  in  Boston,  and  was  already  the 
leading  lawyer  of  the  province.  James,  who  took  a  great 
interest  in  the  education  of  young  Sam,  wrote  their  father 
in  1760: 

Very  sure  I  am,  if  he  should  stay  a  year  or  two  from  the  time 
of  his  degree,  before  he  begins  with  the  law,  he  will  be  able  to 
make  better  progress  in  one  week,  than  he  could  now,  without 
a  miracle,  in  six.  ...  I  hold  it  to  be  of  vast  importance  that  a 
young  man  should  be  able  to  make  some  eclat  at  his  opening, 
which  it  is  vain  to  expect  from  one  under  twenty  five :  missing 
of  this  is  very  apt  to  discourage  and  dispirit  him,  and  what  is 
of  worse  consequence,  may  prevent  the  application  of  clients 
ever  after.  It  has  been  observed  before  I  was  born,  if  a  man  don't 
obtain  a  character  in  any  profession  soon  after  his  first  appear- 
ance, he  hardly  will  ever  obtain  one.^ 

*  Until  1774,  class  lists  at  Harvard  College  were  arranged  according  to  the 
social  position  of  the  students'  parents. 
'  Tudor,  James  Otis,  11. 


4  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Sam  followed  his  brother's  advice,  but,  finding  the  study 
of  law  distasteful,  asked  his  father  to  set  him  up  as  a  mer- 
chant in  Boston.  Although  the  earlier  Otises  were  self- 
made  men,  the  Colonel  could  not  but  humor  his  youngest 
and  favorite  son.  Before  long  we  find  advertisements  in 
the  Boston  Evening  Post,  to  the  effect  that  "Samuel 
Allyne  Otis  will  sell  very  cheap,  at  his  store  No.  5  South 
Side  of  the  Town  Dock,  New  Flour,  cordage  &  boltrope, 
Lead  &  Shott,  New  England  Rum  made  under  his  own 
inspection  etc."  As  one  would  expect  of  a  petted  younger 
son,  Samuel  never  developed  the  high  ability  of  his  father 
and  grandfather;  but  he  inherited  from  the  latter,  and 
transmitted  to  his  son,  a  gift  of  personal  charm  and  popu- 
larity that  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  reverses. 

Soon  after  he  settled  in  Boston,  Samuel  contracted  an 
alliance  with  Elizabeth,  the  only  daughter  of  Harrison 
Gray,  and  they  were  married  on  the  last  day  of  1764.  It 
was  the  second  time  that  the  families  were  connected 
by  marriage.  The  Grays  were  wealthy  townspeople,  al- 
though a  newer  family  than  the  Otises.  Elizabeth's  grand- 
father, Edward  Gray,  who  had  emigrated  to  Boston  from 
Lincolnshire  as  an  apprentice  in  1686,  became  in  course 
of  time  the  owner  of  large  rope-walks,  the  profit  from 
which  allowed  him  to  bring  up  a  family  of  nine  children 
in  considerable  luxury.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1757, 
his  son  Harrison  was  serving  his  fourth  term  as  Treasurer 
and  Receiver-General  of  the  Province,  a  well-remun- 
erated position  of  great  dignity.  Harrison  Gray  married 
Elizabeth  Lewis,  the  daughter  of  Ezekiel  Lewis,  another 
prominent  Boston  merchant.  Elizabeth  Gray,  their  only 
daughter  and  youngest  child,  was  said  to  have  been  a 
beautiful  woman;  and  her  character,  as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  observe,  was  one  of  singular  beauty. 

After  their  marriage,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Allyne  Otis 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD  5 

purchased  a  house  in  Boston  near  the  present  Bowdoin 
Square,  adjoining  the  site  of  the  Revere  House.  There, 
on  October  8,  1765,  their  first  child  was  born,  and  named 
Harrison  Gray  Otis  after  his  maternal  grandfather.  No 
one,  however,  thought  of  calling  him  Harrison.  "Harry" 
he  was  nicknamed  from  the  first,  and  Harry  Otis  he  al- 
ways remained  to  his  family  and  friends. 

Enough  has  been  said  of  Harry's  forbears  to  show  with 
what  advantages  he  was  endowed  from  his  birth.  Of  pure 
English  stock,  strengthened  by  five  generations  on  New 
England  soil,  and  refined  by  three  generations  of  public 
service  and  social  position,  he  could  have  asked  nothing 
more  of  heredity.  His  environment  was  equally  advan- 
tageous. Boston,  with  its  surroundings  of  water,  open 
spaces,  and  hilly  pastures,  was  then  an  ideal  place  in 
which  to  bring  up  a  boy.  Harry  made  full  use  of  his  op- 
portunities for  play  and  mischief,  and  developed  a  rugged 
constitution  that  carried  him  past  his  eighty-third  birth- 
day. He  was  a  sturdy,  healthy  little  fellow,  with  ruddy 
cheeks,  dark  hair,  and  inquisitive  blue  eyes.  Every  year, 
on  Guy  Fawkes'  day,  a  new  pair  of  leather  breeches  was 
given  him,  and  reserved  for  "best"  so  long  as  the  breeches 
of  the  previous  vintage  held  out.  Thomas  Handasyd 
Perkins,  one  of  his  lifelong  friends,  afterwards  said, 
"Harry  Otis  was  alwaj^s  the  handsomest,  brightest,  and 
most  charming  boy  of  all  our  companions.  Everything 
he  did  was  better  done  than  any  of  the  rest  of  us  could 
do  it." 

Harry  was  given  the  best  education  that  the  time  and 
place  afforded.  Luckily  for  him,  the  old  Puritan  ideas  of 
education  were  much  mitigated  among  such  broad- 
minded  persons  of  the  upper  class  as  his  parents  were. 
His  childhood  was  not  clouded  by  a  severe  repression  of 
his  natural  boyish  impulses,  or  by  a  constant  reminder 


6  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

that  the  mark  of  Adam  was  upon  him.  But  he  was  given 
a  good  religious  training  at  home,  and  sent  at  an  early  age 
to  schools  where  female  teachers  were  unheard  of,  and 
where  a  liberal  use  was  made  of  the  rod.  The  first  school 
that  he  attended  was  on  Hanover  Street,  kept  by  one 
Master  Griffiths,  a  queer  old  fellow  who  used  to  reward 
the  good  scholars  every  Saturday  by  letting  them  scramble 
for  shellbarks  which  he  threw  from  his  window  into  the 
courtyard.  At  the  age  of  seven,  Harry  was  promoted  to 
the  Latin  School,  where  Master  John  Lovell  and  his  son 
James  were  the  reigning  tyrants.  We  shall  let  Mr.  Otis 
recall  his  school  life  in  his  own  words :  ^ 

I  perfectly  remember  the  day  I  entered  the  School,  July, 
1773,  being  then  seven  years  and  nine  months  old.  Immedi- 
ately after  the  end  of  Commencement  week,  I  repaired,  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  prescribed  for  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
lowest  form,  to  old  Master  Lovell's  house,  situate  in  School 
Street,  nearly  opposite  the  site  of  the  old  School  house.  I  was 
early  on  the  ground,  anticipated  only  by  Mr.  John  Hubbard, 
who  lived  near  —  it  being  understood  that  the  boys  were  to 
take  their  places  on  the  form  in  the  same  routine  that  they  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  house.  The  probationary  exercise 
was  reading  a  few  verses  in  the  Bible.  Having  passed  muster  in 
this,  I  was  admitted  as  second  boy  on  the  lowest  form. 

I  attended  school  from  that  time  until  April,  1775,  (the  day 
of  Lexington  battle),  being  then  on  the  second  form.  The  School 
was  divided  into  seven  classes.  A  separate  bench  or  form  was 
allotted  to  each,  besides  a  skipping  form,  appropriated  for  a 
few  boys  who  were  intended  to  be  pushed  forward  one  year 
in  advance.  The  books  studied  the  first  year  were  Cheever's 
Accidence,  a  small  Nomenclature,  and  Corderius'  Colloquies. 
The  second  year,  Aesop's  Fables,  and  towards  the  close  of  it, 
Eutropius  and  Ward's  Lilly's  Grammar.  The  third  year  Eu- 
tropius  and   Grammar  continued,  and  a  book   commenced 

■•  From  a  letter  of  December  17,  1844,  printed  in  H.  F.  Jenks,  Uistorical 
Sketch  of  the  Boston  Latin  School  (preface  to  the  School  Catalogue,  Boston, 
1886),  35-37. 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD  7 

called  Clarke's  Introduction.  In  the  fourth  year,  the  fourth 
form,  as  well  as  the  fifth  and  sixth,  being  furnished  with  desks, 
commenced  "making  Latin,"  as  the  phrase  was,  and  to  the 
books  used  by  the  third  form  Caesar's  Commentaries  were 
added.  After  this  were  read  in  succession  by  the  three  upper 
classes,  Tully's  Orations,  the  first  books  of  the  Aeneid,  and  the 
highest  classes  dipped  into  Xenophon  and  Homer.  School 
opened  at  7  in  summer  and  8  in  winter,  a.m.,  and  at  1  p.m. 
throughout  the  year.  It  was  ended  at  11  a.m.  and  5  p.m.,  at 
which  hours  the  greater  part  went  to  writing  school  for  an  hour 
at  a  time  —  but  a  portion  remained  and  took  lessons  in  writing 
of  "Master  James,"  son  of  the  Preceptor,  and  some  young  girls 
then  came  into  school. 

The  discipline  of  the  School  was  strict  but  not  severe.  The 
Master's  —  Old  Gaffer,  as  we  called  him  —  desk  was  near  the 
south-west  corner  of  the  room;  Master  James's  desk  was  in  the 
north-east  corner.  I  remember  to  have  seen  no  other  instrument 
of  punishment  but  the  ferule  in  Master  Lovell's  day.  Gaffer's 
ferule  was  a  short,  stubbed,  greasy-looking  article,  which,  when 
not  in  use,  served  him  as  a  stick  of  sugar  candy.  The  lightest 
punishment  was  one  clap,  the  severest  four  —  the  most  usual, 
two,  one  on  each  hand.  The  inflictions  of  the  old  gentleman  were 
not  much  dreaded;  his  ferule  seemed  to  be  a  mere  continuation 
of  his  arm,  of  which  the  center  of  motion  was  the  shoulder.  It 
descended  altogether  with  a  w^hack,  and  there  was  the  end  of  it, 
after  blowing  the  fingers.  But  Master  James's  fashion  of  wield- 
ing his  weapon  was  another  affair.  He  had  a  gymnastic  style  of 
flourishing  altogether  unicfue  —  a  mode  of  administering  our 
experimentum  ferules  that  was  absolutely  terrific.  He  never 
punished  in  Gaffer's  presence,  but  whenever  the  old  gentleman 
withdrew,  all  began  to  contemplate  the  "day's  disaster,"  and 
to  tremble,  not  when  he  "frown'd,"  for  he  did  not  frown,  nor 
was  he  an  ill-tempered  person,  but  rather  smiled  sardonically, 
as  if  preparing  for  a  pugilistic  effort,  and  the  execution  as  nearly 
resembled  the  motion  of  a  flail  in  the  hands  of  an  expert  thrasher 
as  could  be  acquired  by  long  practice.  School  broke  up  at 
10  A.M.  on  Thursday,  —  a  relic  of  an  old  custom  to  give  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  the  "Thursday  lecture"  — which  was  I  believe 
never  improved  in  my  day.  School  opened  with  "attendamus'* 
to  a  short  prayer.   It  ended  with  "deponite  libros."    The  boys 


8  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

had  a  recess  of  a  few  minutes  to  go  out  in  the  yard  —  eight 
at  a  time.  No  leave  was  asked  in  words;  but  there  was  a  short 
club  of  a  yard  in  length  which  was  caught  up  by  some  boy, 
round  whom  those  wlio  wished  to  go  out  clustered,  and  were 
drilled  down  to  eight.  The  club  was  then  held  up  near  Mas- 
ter's nose,  who  nodded  assent,  when  the  eight  vanished  club  in 
hand.  Upon  their  return  there  was  a  rush  to  seize  the  club 
which  was  placed  by  the  door,  and  a  new  conscription  of  eight 
formed,  and  so  toiies  quoties. 

To  live  in  Boston  was  an  education  in  itself  during 
Harry's  childhood  and  youth.  The  first  ten  years  of  his 
life  were  a  period  of  economic  prosperity,  when  Boston 
Harbor  was  thronged  with  vessels  from  Europe,  Africa, 
the  West  Indies,  and  the  southern  colonies.  It  was,  more- 
over, a  period  decisive  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Be- 
tween 1765  and  1775  the  struggle  between  Parliament  and 
the  colonies  passed  through  all  the  preliminary  stages  of 
resistance,  compromise,  unorganized  rebellion,  and  at- 
tempted punishment,  that  finally  ended  in  civil  war.  It 
was  a  struggle  in  which  Harry's  family  played  an  impor- 
tant part  from  the  first.  Every  argument  was  threshed 
out  in  the  home  circle.  The  Boston  of  his  boyhood  was 
an  admirable  nursery  for  statesmen. 

In  the  year  of  Harry's  birth,  both  sides  of  his  family 
were  in  the  Whig  or  opposition  party.  His  grandfather 
Otis  was  a  prominent  opposition  member  of  the  Council, 
and  his  uncle  James,  whose  famous  speech  against  the 
writs  of  assistance  had  been  delivered  in  1761,  w^as  at  the 
very  height  of  his  reputation  and  power  as  a  patriot  leader 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  General  Court.  James  Otis,  Jr., 
represented  Massachusetts  at  the  Stamp  Act  Congress, 
which  met  at  Albany  on  October  7,  1765,  the  day  before 
Harry  was  born;  and  the  following  years  were  the  most 
active,  if  not  the  most  fruitful  of  his  career.  Politics 
gradually  absorbed  his  time,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  his 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD  9 

lucrative  law^  practice.  He  was  at  the  head  of  every 
measure  taken  up  in  legislature  or  town  meeting  to  op- 
pose the  obnoxious  acts  of  Parliament,  and  in  constant 
correspondence  with  patriot  leaders  in  other  colonies. 
But  his  genius  seemed  to  burn  itself  out  under  this  stress 
of  work,  and  his  nature,  ordinarily  pleasure-loving,  easy- 
going, and  genial,  became  morose,  resentful,  and  irascible. 
As  early  as  1763,  entries  in  John  Adams's  diary  testify  to 
an  extravagance  of  behavior  and  a  violence  of  temper  on 
the  part  of  Otis  which  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the 
charitable  explanation  of  mental  unsoundness.  Towards 
the  close  of  the  sixties,  these  manifestations  became  more 
frequent.  In  the  autumn  of  1769  occurred  his  fatal  alter- 
cation with  a  government  official,  in  which  he  received 
a  severe  cut  on  the  head.  This  blow  permanently  unbal- 
anced his  reason.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  lucid  in- 
tervals, the  brilliant  orator,  lawyer,  and  patriot  was  never 
again  himself.  He  retired  to  the  country,  and  in  Decem- 
ber, 1771,  on  representation  to  the  Probate  Court  that 
James  Otis,  Jr.,  was  non  compos  mentis,  Harry's  father  was 
appointed  his  guardian. 

The  insanity  of  James  Otis  was  a  grave  loss  to  the  pa- 
triot cause,  and  a  heavy  blow  to  Harry's  family  circle. 
The  example  of  the  elder  man  was  a  constant  inspiration 
in  after  years  to  the  youth,  who  unfortunately  did  not 
come  into  contact  with  his  uncle  while  he  was  in  posses- 
sion of  his  faculties. 

Another  cause  of  uneasiness  in  Harry's  family  was  the 
growing  Toryism  of  his  grandfather  Gray.  At  the  time 
Harry  was  born.  Treasurer  Gray  was  a  somewhat  shaky 
member  of  the  popul  ar  party,  but  soon  afterwards  he  began 
to  gravitate  toward  the  other  side.^  John  Adams  subse- 

^  Cf.  S.  E.  Morison,  "The  Property  of  Harrison  Gray,  Loyalist,"  Publicor 
tiona  of  Colonial  Society  of  Mass.,  xiv. 


10  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

quently  ascribed  his  apostasy  to  Whiggery  to  the  death,  in 
17C6,  of  his  pohtical  and  religious  mentor,  the  Reverend 
Jonathan  Mayhew.  "Had  Mayhew  Hved,  it  is  believed 
that  Gray  would  never  have  been  a  refugee;  but  the 
seducers  prevailed,  though  he  had  connected  his  blood 
with  an  Otis."  The  worthy  Treasurer  was,  indeed,  fond 
of  religious  exercise  and  susceptible  to  ecclesiastical  in- 
fluence, but  no  particular  circumstance  is  necessary  to 
explain  his  march  toward  Toryism.  Men  of  means  and 
established  position,  although  liberal  in  their  ideas,  gen- 
erally take  the  conservative  side  when  the  issue  is  fairly 
joined  between  rebellion  and  loyalty.  Self-interest  would 
have  led  Harrison  Gray  to  remain  a  Whig,  for  his 
tenure  of  office  was  dependent  on  the  popularly  elected 
General  Court.  But  the  natural  feelings  of  the  wealthy 
merchant  asserted  themselves.  He  believed  that  Parlia- 
ment had  conceded  enough  in  repealing  the  Stamp  Act; 
and,  abhorring  the  boycotts,  riots,  and  other  illegal 
methods  employed  by  the  patriots,  he  had  no  wish  to 
make  an  issue  out  of  the  tax  on  tea. 

Until  the  time  came  when  there  was  no  middle  ground, 
Harrison  Gray  was  a  moderate  Tory,  and  managed  to 
retain  his  position  of  Treasurer  by  advancing  to  impe- 
cunious patriots  in  the  General  Court  their  salaries  out 
of  his  own  pocket,  when  the  treasury  was  empty.  But  in 
1774  came  an  event  that  forced  him  to  choose  irrevocably 
between  patriotism  and  loyalism.  Among  the  five  coer- 
cive measures  of  that  year  by  which  Parliament  intended 
to  punish  rebellious  Boston  for  its  mobs  and  tea  parties, 
was  the  Massachusetts  Government  Act,  suspending  the 
Province  Charter,  and  providing  that  the  Council  should 
henceforth  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  on  a  legal  writ 
of  mandamus.^  Harrison  Gray's  name  appeared  sixth  on 

'  By  the  Province  Charter,  the  Council  was  annually  chosen  by  the  whole 
legislature,  and  subject  to  the  veto  only  of  the  Governor. 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD  11 

the  list  of  Governor  Gage's  mandamus  Councillors,  Against 
the  advice  and  persuasion  of  most  of  his  friends,  he  ac- 
cepted the  call,  and  thus  recognized  the  right  of  King  and 
Parliament  to  suspend  at  will  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.  The  immediate  consequences  of  his 
action  were  estrangement  from  most  of  his  friends,  loss  of 
his  position,  and  unwelcome  attentions  from  the  mob; 
the  final  consequences  were  confiscation  of  his  property 
and  a  permanent  separation  from  friends  and  country. 

The  fact  that  Grandfather  Gray  became  a  loyalist  had 
an  important  effect  on  the  mind  of  young  Harry.  He 
heard  both  sides  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day  dis- 
cussed in  the  family  circle.  In  after  years  he  could  testify 
from  personal  conviction  that  it  was  possible  to  be 
at  the  same  time  a  loyalist  and  an  honest  man,  and  that 
the  relentless  persecution  of  the  loyalists  both  during  and 
after  the  Revolution,  was  unjust.  The  full  import  of  the 
Treasurer's  acceptance  of  the  King's  mandamus,  of  course 
was  not  realized  at  the  time  either  by  Harry  or  by  his 
parents.  For  the  present  he  knew  only  that  Grandfather 
Gray  had  become  the  object  of  popular  opprobrium,  and 
was  no  longer  on  speaking  terms  with  Grandfather  Otis. 

The  Otis  family,  who  had  quite  as  much  at  stake  as 
Treasurer  Gray,  remained  true  to  the  patriot  cause  while 
the  latter  was  treading  the  road  that  led  to  exile.  Colonel 
Otis  in  1770  renewed  his  active  opposition  in  the  Council, 
his  election  to  which  had  been  vetoed  by  Governor  Ber- 
nard since  1766.  In  1774,  though  seventy-two  years  of 
age,  he  was  chosen  President  of  the  Council  in  the  revo- 
lutionary Provincial  Congress,  at  Watertown,  one  of  the 
first  of  whose  acts  was  to  order  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts to  cease  paying  taxes  to  Treasurer  Gray.  Harry's 
father  was  in  close  business  and  personal  relations  with 
the  Adamses,  Warrens,  and  Gerrys,  but  he  did  not  take 


12  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

an  active  part  in  politics  until  after  the  Revolution  broke 
out. 

Meanwhile  another  member  of  the  Otis  family,  Harry's 
"Aunt  Warren,"^  was  rising  into  fame  as  the  poetess 
laureate  of  the  patriot  party.  Mercy  Otis,  married  in 
1754  to  James  Warren,  a  wealthy  farmer  of  Plymouth, 
led  the  humdrum  life  of  a  New  England  housewife  down 
to  the  exciting  period  of  the  Tea  Party.  Her  husband  then 
became  a  prominent  member  of  the  General  Court  and 
the  Caucus  Club,  and  Mercy  blossomed  forth  as  afemme 
politique.  With  heart  and  soul  in  the  patriot  cause,  she 
applied  her  pen  in  its  aid  —  a  proceeding  that  other  and 
less  gifted  patriots'  wives  believed  highly  unbecoming  to 
her  sex.  In  1774  she  published  a  satirical  poem  on  the 
Tea  Party,  entitled  "The  Squabble  of  the  Sea-nymphs," 
and  a  more  serious  poem,  "A  Political  Reverie,"  in  which 
she  looks 

",   .  .  with  rapture  at  the  distant  dawn 


Wlien  Patriot  States  in  laurel  crowns  may  rise. 
And  ancient  kingdoms  greet  them  as  allies." 

In  May,  1775,  began  the  issue,  in  parts,  of  her  "Group," 
a  dramatic  satire  on  the  Tory  Party  that  gave  keen  de- 
light to  the  patriots.  Though  not  deficient  in  her  duties 
as  wife  and  mother,  Mercy  took  an  Amazonian  delight 
in  the  political  arena,  and  all  through  the  war  advised  her 
husband  on  political  matters,  corresponded  with  states- 
men, and  shot  barbed  shafts  of  satire  into  the  enemy's 
flank. 

This  year  1775  brought  Harry  to  his  tenth  year,  when  he 
could  observe  and  understand  much  concerning  the  great 

'  Down  to  a  period  within  the  memory  of  persons  now  living,  American 
children  never  addressed  their  aunts  and  uncles  by  their  Christian  names.  Otis 
always  referred  to  Mercy  Warren  as  "Aunt  Warren." 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD  13 

events  that  were  taking  place  in  his  native  town.  He  al- 
ways retained  a  vivid  remembrance  of  the  historic  19th 
of  April,  1775.  A  part  of  the  British  soldiery  was  quartered 
in  the  Lechmere  distillery,  at  the  corner  of  Hancock  and 
Cambridge  Streets,  not  far  from  his  parents'  residence. 
The  evening  of  the  18th  was  unusually  hot  for  that  season 
of  the  year.  A  general  uneasiness  was  apparent  in  the 
streets;  citizens  conversed  in  low  tones  in  groups  of  two 
or  three;  and  a  careful  watch  was  kept  on  the  movements 
of  the  troops.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  Harry  was 
taken  from  his  bed  and  brought  to  the  window,  where, 
through  the  mist  hanging  over  the  pasture  before  his 
door,  he  saw  the  British  regulars  marching  silently  along 
on  their  way  to  Lexington  and  Concord.  The  following 
day,  to  quote  his  own  words, ^  "I  went  to  school  for  the 
last  time.  In  the  morning,  about  seven,  Percy's  brigade 
was  drawn  up,  extending  from  Scollay's  building  thro* 
Tremont  Street  nearly  to  the  bottom  of  the  Mall,  pre- 
paring to  take  up  their  march  for  Lexington.  A  corporal 
came  up  to  me  as  I  was  going  to  school,  and  turned  me  off 
to  pass  down  Court  St.  which  I  did,  and  came  up  School 
St.  to  the  School-house.  It  may  well  be  imagined  that 
great  agitation  prevailed,  the  British  line  being  drawn  up 
only  a  few  yards  from  the  School-house  door.  As  I  en- 
tered the  school,  I  heard  the  announcement  of  deponite 
lihros,  and  ran  home  for  fear  of  the  regulars." 

News  of  the  Concord  fight  brought  thousands  of  armed 
country  people  swarming  around  Boston,  until  it  became 
apparent  that  the  town  would  be  besieged,  in  order  to 
force  out  General  Gage  and  his  troops.  Harry's  father 
decided  to  follow  the  example  of  many  patriot  families, 
and  remove  his  family  before  it  became  too  late.  The  Otis 
homestead  at  Barnstable  offered  a  convenient  refuge.  In 

^  Letter  cited  above,  in  Catalogue  of  the  Boston  Latin  School,  37. 


14  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

the  second  week  of  May,  1775,  Harry  and  his  mother,  bid- 
ding good-bye  to  Grandfather  Gray  and  the  Gray  uncles 
and  aunts,  set  out  in  the  family  chaise  for  the  Great 
Marshes.  Samuel  A.  Otis  followed  by  sea  with  part  of  the 
household  goods.  It  was  the  final  parting  of  the  ways  for 
the  Otis  and  Gray  families :  a  separation  that  lasted  the  rest 
of  their  lives.  Luckily  for  Harry,  his  father  remained  true 
to  the  cause  which  his  uncle  James  had  done  so  much  to 
create.  That  cause  must  have  seemed  desperate  enough 
in  May,  1775,  to  an  intelligent  man  who  could  compare  the 
resources  of  Great  Britain  with  those  of  the  thirteen  colo- 
nies. But  the  father's  choice  meant  for  Harry  an  oppor- 
tunity for  distinguished  public  service  in  a  republican 
state,  while  the  Gray  uncles  and  cousins,  who  doubtless 
expected  to  reap  the  rewards  of  loyalty  on  this  side  of  the 
water,  were  doomed  to  a  monotonous  life  of  pensioned 
exile  at  the  court  in  which  they  had  placed  their  trust. 


CHAPTER  II 

BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH 
1775-1783,  ^T.  10-18 

Shortly  after  the  Otis  family  arrived  at  Barnstable, 
Harry's  mother  wrote  her  father  as  follows : 

Barnstable,  May  1775. 
Hond  Sir 

I  have  only  time  to  inform  you,  I  arrived  here  this  day  at 
twelve,  and  have  been  treated  with  the  greatest  kindness  upon 
the  Road,  every  one  rejoicing  that  we  have  left  Boston.  The 
Sloop  did  not  arrive  here  till  yesterday;  I  have  not  seen  Mr. 
Otis  yet,  he  thinks  it  best  not  to  come  on  shore,  untill  he  can 
get  his  goods  all  out  of  the  vessel,  which  will  be  to  morrow,  the 
children  are  all  well  with  me,  except  the  Baby,  who  I  have  left 
for  the  present,  with  her  Nurse.  I  wish  you  with  the  rest  of  my 
dear  Friends  were  out  of  Town,  not  that  I  am  apprehensive  of 
any  danger,  except  that  of  starving.  I  have  many  things  to  say, 
but  I  forbear  as  I  know  not  whose  hands  this  may  fall  into,  so 
with  wishing  you  all  the  support  of  Heaven  which  is  necessary 
at  this  day  of  Trial  and  distress,  I  conclude 

Your  dutiful  Daughter  E  Otis  ^ 

*  This  and  the  subsequent  letters  from  Elizabeth  Gray  Otis  to  Harrison 
Gray  are  taken  from  copies  made  by  the  recipient,  and  sent  by  his  grand- 
daughter Sophia  to  her  cousin,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  in  1833.  He  writes  in  reply, 
on  February  17,  1833:  "You  did  me  a  greater  favor  than  you  were  aware  of  in 
sending  me  the  little  rubrics  of  my  Grandfather.  They  have  reference  to 
scenes  impressed  on  my  bosom  in  childhood,  with  indelible  interest.  I  was  with 
my  mother  when  she  wrote  those  letters,  which  showed  that  her  heart  was  be- 
ginning to  break  as  break  it  did  at  her  separation  from  her  father  tho'  united  to 
a  worthy  and  affectionate  husband,  whom  she  loved.  Think  of  her  being  at  a 
place  distant  only  70  miles  from  her  father,  which  the  mail  now  reaches  in  10 
oi*  12  hours;  with  which  the  intercourse  was  so  interrupted  by  a  civil  war,  that 
letters  were  weeks  &  mouths  in  the  transit  from  one  place  to  the  other." 


16  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

^  Harry  looked  on  the  removal  to  Barnstable  as  a  huge 
lark,  not  that  he  was  allowed  to  waste  time,  for  on  their 
arrival  he  was  sent  to  school  with  Mr.  Hilliard,  pastor  of 
the  East  Parish.  There  he  passed  every  week  from  Mon- 
days to  Saturdays,  returning  to  the  patriarchal  mansion 
for  the  Sabbath.  His  progress  was  satisfactory,  at  least 
to  his  mother,  for  she  wrote  to  his  grandfather  on  January 
8,  1776,  "I  shall  inclose  you  a  letter  from  Harry  of  his 
own  handwriting  as  well  as  of  inditing,  which  will  enable 
you  to  form  a  Judgment  of  his  Genius  which  his  Tutor 
tells  me  is  very  uncommon  to  say  the  least."  Another 
pupil  at  the  same  school  was  Thomas  Handasyd  Perkins, 
Harry's  young  friend,  whose  family,  also,  had  taken  re- 
fuge at  Barnstable.  Colonel  Perkins  afterwards  told 
of  the  famous  times  they  used  to  have  together: 

In  vacation  and  on  Saturday  during  fishing  season  we  used, 
with  my  brother  James,  to  go  trout  fishing  in  Mashapee  and 
Santuit  Rivers  with  great  success.  We  never  kept  trout  much 
under  a  pound,  putting  the  smaller  ones  back  into  the  stream. 
Although  we  were  so  young,  we  were  allowed  to  use  guns;  my 
mother  saying  that  she  did  not  know  but  that  we  might  be 
called  upon  some  day  or  other  to  fight  for  our  country  and  she 
wished  us  to  understand  the  use  of  a  gun.  Sometimes  we  joined 
the  deer-hunts  on  the  hills,  or  during  the  autumn  shot  flight- 
birds  on  Barnstable  Great  Marshes.^ 

For  the  boys'  elders,  however,  it  was  a  time  of  much 
anxiety.  They  had  not  been  in  Barnstable  long  before 
news  came  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  the  burning 
of  Charlestown.  "This  came  to  us,"  Otis  remembered, 
"not  in  the  shape  which  it  has  since  assumed,  as  a  real 
victory,  though  nominal  defeat;  but  with  the  unmitigated 
horrors  of  conflagration  and  massacre,  and  as  a  specimen 
of  the  mode  in  which  our  peaceful  villages  were  intended  to 

2  A.  T.  Perkins,  Memoir  of  E.  G.  Otis.  147. 


THtt  MBHARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


ELIZABETH  GRAY  OTIS 
From  a  portrait  by  John  Singleton  Copley 


THE  PARENTS  OF 


ARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


SAMUEL  ALL^'NE  OTIS 
From  a  portrait  by  Gilbert  Stuart 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH  17 

be  swept  with  fire  and  sword."  ^  Barnstable  was  in'a  state 
of  perpetual  alarm,  its  militia  constantly  on  the  alert, 
since  the  coast  frequently  was  threatened  by  British  ten- 
ders and  privateers.  Harry's  mother  was  full  of  grief  at 
the  parting  from  her  father  and  brothers,  and  of  apprehen- 
sion for  their  welfare  in  the  beleaguered  town.  So  difficult 
were  communications  between  Boston  and  the  outside 
world,  that  for  three  whole  months  in  the  autumn  of 
1775  there  came  no  word  from  Grandfather  Gray.  Later 
in  the  year,  however,  communication  became  fairly  easy, 
to  judge  from  a  letter  of  Christmas  day,  1775,  from  Mrs. 
Otis  to  her  father: 

If  it  would  not  be  giving  my  Papa  and  Brother  too  much 
trouble,  I  should  be  exceeding  glad  [if]  they  would  send  me  out 
a  trunk  of  Apparel  I  left  in  the  little  Chamber,  with  my  beding 
counterpin  Curtains  and  Carpets  which  may  be  put  in  a  Trunk. 
I  should  not  have  asked  this  had  I  not  been  credibly  informed 
Mr  Bowdoin  has  lately  got  out  several  large  Trunks  over  the 
Neck  and  the  things  I  mention  are  absolutely  necessary.  I 
need  not  add  I  most  ardently  long  to  see  you,  but  whether  ever 
I  shall  is  known  only  to  him,  who  orders  all  things  with  unerring 
Wisdom. 

We  have  already  felt  heavy  trials  —  and  are  daily  expecting 
greater.  May  Heaven  take  pity  on  us,  and  remove  those  heavy 
Judgments  that  are  now  hanging  over  us — prays  your  obedient 
Daughr.      E  O 

The  family  at  the  Otis  mansion  consisted  of  Harry's 
father  and  mother,  his  younger  brother  Sam,  two  babies. 
Grandfather  Otis,  and  Harry's  uncle  Joseph.  The  last 
two  were  absent  a  large  part  of  the  time,  —  the  old  gentle- 
man being  President  of  the  Council  at  Watertown,  and 
Joseph  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Provincial 
Congress.  Early  in  1776  they  received  an'unexpected  ac- 

*  Letter  of  H.  G.  Otis  of  August  31, 1839,  in  The  Cape  Cod  Centennial  Cele- 
bration at  Barnstable  (Barnstable,  1840),  74-76. 


18  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

qiiisition  in  the  person  of  Mrs.  Otis'  younger  brother,  John 
Gray.  "Jack,"  as  he  was  generally  called,  was  a  spirited 
young  loyalist  of  twenty,  with  a  faculty  for  getting  into 
trouble.  At  the  beginning  of  the  siege  of  Boston  he  sailed 
for  England,  but  not  long  after,  thinking  that  the  rebel- 
lion would  soon  be  over,  he  reembarked  for  Boston.  His 
vessel  was  captured  by  an  American  privateer,  and  brought 
to  Newburyport,  where  the  boy  was  thought  suflBciently 
dangerous  to  be  put  under  close  confinement.  By  the  in- 
tercession of  his  Otis  relatives,  however,  the  Provincial 
Congress  passed  an  order  releasing  him  into  their  custody, 
on  giving  a  bond  for  £1000  not  to  leave  Barnstable  or  to 
have  any  dealings  with  the  enemy.  Under  these  condi- 
tions Jack  was  allowed  to  join  the  family  at  the  Great 
Marshes.  Since  his  sister  writes  "he  is  in  very  good  spirits, 
and  treated  like  a  gentleman,"  the  young  loyalist,  highly 
pleased  with  himself  and  his  adventure,  was  doubtless  a 
great  source  of  entertainment  to  his  relatives. 

After  the  evacuation  on  March  17,  1776,  the  Otis 
family  returned  to  Boston,  and  reopened  the  house  that 
Grandfather  Gray  had  abandoned.  It  was  a  different  town 
from  the  Boston  they  had  left  ten  months  before.  The 
change  was  not  so  much  in  the  outward  aspect  of  the  place, 
although,  it  is  true,  shot  and  shells  were  still  scattered 
about,  and  many  houses  had  been  pillaged  by  the  British 
soldiery  during  the  confusion  of  evacuation.  The  real 
change  that  the  siege  had  brought  about  in  Boston  was  a 
total  subversion  of  the  social  structure,  caused  by  the 
wholesale  emigration  of  loyalists.  When  Lord  Howe  came 
to  his  sudden  decision  to  retire  from  the  town,  the  Boston 
Tories  saw  that  they,  also,  must  leave.  In  the  words  of 
one  loyalist,  "neither  Hell,  Hull  nor  Halifax"  would  be 
worse  than  remaining  to  face  the  enraged  and  victorious 
patriots.  For  three  days  confusion  reigned,  while  panic- 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH  19 

stricken  British  sjinpathizers  rushed  to  and  fro,  trying 
to  find  corners  for  themselves  and  their  household  goods 
on  one  of  the  transports.  When  they  were  all  finally  em- 
barked, Abigail  Adams  could  look  down  from  Penn's  Hill, 
upon  the  largest  fleet  ever  seen  in  America,  upwards  of  a 
hundred  and  seventy  sail,  ready  to  set  forth  for  Halifax. 
It  was  an  emigration  comparable  only  to  that  which 
took  place  from  France  sixteen  years  later.  The  exodus 
drained  the  community  of  some  of  its  most  prosperous 
and  valuable  elements,  and  left  great  gaps  in  the  social 
structure  that  time  alone  could  fill.^  Among  the  exiles 
were  Harrison  Gray  and  his  sons  Lewis  and  Harrison. 
Their  absence  alone  made  it  a  sad  home-coming  for 
Harry's  mother,  as  her  pathetic  letters  indicate. 

My  dear,  dear  Pappa,  [she  writes  on  June  29, 1776],  —  Al- 
though I  see  no  great  probability  this  will  ever  reach  you,  yet 
I  cannot  let  the  opportunity  pass  without  a  few  lines.  It 's  not 
in  the  power  of  words  to  express  how  much  I  have  suffered  for 
you  and  the  rest  of  my  dear  friends  since  you  left  Boston,  hav- 
ing never  received  any  Intelligence  from  Halifax,  till  yester- 
day. A  few  lines  from  IMrs  Hughes  informs  me  you  with  my 
Brother  and  Sister  embarked  for  London  May  12th.  Hard  is 
my  fate  to  be  thus  separated  from  the  tenderest,  the  best  of 
Parents.  .  .  .  You  may  well  suppose  the  Town  wears  a  gloomy 
appearance  to  me  who  has  lost  so  many  dear  connections.  .  .  . 
I  had  no  other  Inducement  to  return  to  it,  but  on  account  of 
the  little  folks,  who  were  destitute  of  Schools  when  in  the 
Country. 

And  again,  on  August  15: 

My  dear  papa  I  must  entreat,  if  there  is  any  possible  way 
of  conveying  a  line,  you  would  improve  it,  and  tell  me 
whether  you  think  there  is  the  least  probability  of  our  ever 
meeting  again  on  Earth.    I  own  I  sometimes  indulge  the 

*  The  list  given  in  Justin  Winsor,  Memorial  Hist,  of  Boston,  iii,  175,  of  re- 
fugee Boston  loyalists  contains  536  names,  mostly  heads  of  families,  and  in- 
cluding men  of  all  classes  and  occupations. 


20  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

pleasing  hope,  however  slender  the  foundation.  As  I  ever  make 
it  a  rule  not  to  say  anything  upon  political  matters,  you  will 
not  expect  anything  in  that  way  now.  I  have  many  things 
to  say  in  the  domestic  way,  but  as  I  know  not  whose  hands 
this  may  fall  into  I  forbear.  ... 

Your  dutiful  Daughtr  E.  O. 

My  good  partner  with  the  little  folks  joins  me  in  duty  and 
Love.  I  wish  you  would  not  mention  anything  in  the  politi- 
cal way,  as  it  may  be  a  means  of  my  not  seeing  it. 

Harry  and  his  father,  on  the  contrary,  adjusted  them- 
selves easily  to  the  new  conditions.  Harry  was  sent  back 
to  the  Latin  School,  to  prepare  for  college.  With  his 
friend  Tom  Perkins,  who  also  had  returned  from  Barn- 
stable, he  often  shot  snipe  at  the  foot  of  the  Common, 
on  the  site  of  the  present  playground,  and  went  gun- 
ning for  teal  in  a  creek  near  the  present  site  of  Dover 
Street.  On  one  memorable  occasion  they  took  a  trip  to 
Barnstable,  where.  Colonel  Perkins  relates,  "Otis  and  I 
went  out  on  the  marshes  to  shoot  against  one  another, 
he  going  to  the  north  toward  Sandwich  and  I  keeping  to 
the  south.  At  the  end  of  the  day  I  brought  in  some 
seventy  large  birds,  half  of  them  killed  by  single  shots 
with  a  gun  having  but  one  barrel  and  a  flint  lock,  and  was 
delighted  to  find  I  had  beaten  Harry,  who  had,  however, 
killed  but  a  very  few  birds  less  than  I  had." 

Samuel  A.  Otis,  at  this  time,  resumed  his  mercantile 
business,  in  partnership  with  a  Mr.  Andrews,  and  began 
likewise  a  political  career.  In  May,  1776,  he  was  chosen 
one  of  the  Boston  Representatives  to  the  General  Court. 
Shortly  after,  he  was  appointed  to  the  Massachusetts 
Board  of  War,  together  with  his  brother-in-law  James 
Warren,  the  husband  of  the  redoubtable  Mercy.  This  was 
a  responsible  position  of  great  importance,  for  the  Board 
of  War  acted  not  only  as  a  state  executive  for  military  af- 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH  21 

fairs,  but  as  an  intermediary  between  the  state  and  Con- 
gress. Meanwhile  the  business  of  Mr.  Otis  was  thriving. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  majority  of  Americans 
suffered  hardship  and  privation  during  the  Revolution. 
In  that  contest,  as  in  all  wars,  large  fortunes  were  made 
out  of  privateering,  speculating,  supplying  government, 
and  contraband  trade.  The  early  enthusiasm  for  home- 
spuns and  raspberry  tea  soon  passed  away;  and  from 
1778  on,  the  demand  for  luxuries  and  British  goods  was 
so  great  as  to  make  a  person  of  Roman  virtues  like  Mercy 
Warren  think  that  corruption  and  decay  had  already  en- 
tered the  body  politic.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
Mr.  Otis  shut  his  eyes  to  any  of  these  modes  of  making 
money. 

In  November,  1777,  Messrs.  Otis  &  Andrews  received 
the  appointment  of  Collectors  of  Clothing  for  the  Conti- 
nental Army.  Although,  as  Mr.  Otis  acknowledged,^ "  the 
emoluments  were  considerable,"  it  was  an  exacting  and 
difficult  position.  The  Continental  army  was  in  constant 
need  of  clothing.  A  sudden  order  would  come  for  ten 
thousand  uniforms  to  equip  Pulaski's  Legion,  and  Messrs. 
Otis  &  Andrews  would  first  have  to  procure  the  materials 
as  best  they  could,  then  see  that  the  garments  were  made 
up,  and  finally  forward  them  to  the  Clothier-General. 
They  wrote  Timothy  Pickering,  the  Quartermaster-Gen- 
eral, on  July  2,  1778:  "We  have  sent  on  from  the  begin- 
ning of  Dec.  from  16  to  18000  suits  of  cloathes,  besides 
shirts,  shoes,  Hatts,  blankets,  &c;  .  .  .  for  about  six 
months  we  were  near  £200,000  Lmy  in  debt  on  account  of 
the  United  States,  during  which  time,  we  were  perpetu- 
ally embarassed  by  people  calling  for  their  money,  & 
much  of  our  time  was  taken  up,  in  apologizing." 

The  varied  character  of  Mr.  Otis's  business  during  the 

^  Otis  to  Timothy  Pickering.  Pickering  MSS. 


22  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

war  is  revealed  in  his  letters  ^  to  his  brother  Joseph,  who 
was  at  once  brigadier-general  of  the  militia  of  Barnstable 
County,  country  merchant,  and  member  of  the  local 
committee  on  clothing.    On  June  8,  1778,  he  wrote: 

Dear  Brother 

Will  procure  the  160  hard  dollars  if  I  can  and  write  you.  Am 
sorry  for  Weeks 's  Misfortune,  am  indifferent  about  the  Cloth 
but  wont  refuse  it  at  10/. 

Have  no  thots  of  reducing  the  price  of  anything  past,  future 
reductions  is  all  I  have  an  Idea  of. — The  melasses  cost  Andrews 
26/  he  refused  40/  declined  letting  you  have  it  at  less  24/  and 
as  is  riseing  you  must  not  think  hard  of  it.  You  may  as  well 
keep  yourself  calm  because  if  you  sware  as  you  threaten  at  this 
distance  nobody  will  mind  it.  Salt  Works  Freeman  insists  on 
managing  and  we  cant  honorably  decline  it  tho  his  political 
f agarics  hurt  all  he  is  connected  with.  Have  so  many  Irons  in 
the  fire  dont  incline  to  Speculate  at  Sea  but  will  sell  you  the 
Salt.  Yours  Affectionately,  Sam  A  Otis. 

And  on  September  10  of  the  same  year: 

Am  afraid  you  will  be  in  too  much  in  a  hurry  about  your 
winter  goods,  but  you  may  as  well  make  100  pre  as  5  they  grow 
exceedingly  scarce  and  will  be  at  20  for  one  in  a  short  time  yours 
were  put  at  12  .  .  . 

As  you  are  a  farmer  Mr.  Andrews  &  myself  will  help  you  to  a 
sale  of  forty  bushell  good  potatoes,  200  head  of  Cabbages,  few 
bushells  onions  20  bushell  of  turnips  Carrots  &  parsnips  & 
few  onions,  or  what  you  can  spare  of  these  articles. 

Mrs.  Otis  desires  you  would  take  her  in  a  pail  or  two  of  Eggs 
if  they  come  handy. 

We  have  no  News  here,  but  find  ourselves  alarmed  by  the 
burning  of  Dartmouth.  Cruel  Men!  Are  these  their  olive 
branches? 

Mrs.  Otis  is  miserably  sick  &  weak  &  am  very  much  dis- 
tressed with  the  apprehension  that  she  w[ill]  not  recover. 

Give  my  Duty  &  Love  to  all  friends,  &  send  namesake  ^  home 

*  In  the  James  Otis  MSS.  (Mass.  Historical  Society),  iii. 

^  Harry's  brother,  Samuel  A.  Otis,  Jr.,  born  in  1768.  He  was  brought  up  for 
a  mercantile  career,  and  lived  at  Newburyport  until  his  death  in  1814.  The 
other  children  of  Samuel  A.  Otis  by  his  first  marriage  died  in  childhood. 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH  23 

first  oppy,  and  if  he  is  scandalously  ragged  as  I  fear  he  is  let  the 
shoe  maker  &  Taylor  put  him  in  decent  kilter. 

The  forebodings  that  Mr.  Otis  expressed  for  his  wife 
in  the  last  letter  were  too  well  founded.  The  separation 
from  her  beloved  father  inflicted  on  Elizabeth  Otis  a 
wound  from  which  she  never  recovered.  With  gentle  sub- 
mission she  accepted  the  course  that  her  husband  had 
taken,  but  as  her  letters  show,  she  remained  a  loyalist  at 
heart,  inwardly  protesting  against  the  course  of  events 
that  had  placed  an  insuperable  barrier  between  her  hus- 
band's family  and  her  own.  There  was  nothing  in  the  new 
order  of  things  to  make  up  for  the  friends  she  had  lost. 
Anxiously  her  husband  and  children  saw  depression  turn 
into  poor  health  and  continual  illness.  A  painful  confine- 
ment coming  after  long  months  of  sickness  hastened  her 
decline,  and  on  January  22,  1779,  she  passed  away,  clasp- 
ing her  father's  miniature  to  her  breast.  She  was  only 
thirty -two  years  old,  and  left  five  children.  "As  she  lived 
a  saint,  she  died  an  Angel,"  wrote  her  husband  to  Harri- 
son Gray,  who  answered:  "The  tenderness  and  affection 
you  had  for  my  dear  child,  make  you  stand  high  in  my 
Estimation,  notwithstanding  we  widely  differ  in  our  poli- 
tical principles." 

When  the  shadow  of  this  calamity  fell  across  his  life, 
Harry  was  thirteen  years  old,  and  in  his  last  year  at  the 
Latin  School.  The  following  summer  he  entered  Harvard 
College  with  the  class  of  1783,^  in  which  his  active  intel- 
lect and  charming  personality  made  him  a  leader  in  work 
and  in  play.  In  undergraduate  debates  he  showed  unmis- 
takable signs  of  having  inherited  the  oratorical  gifts  of 
his  uncle.    He  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the 

*  The  ages  of  the  class  of  1783  at  entering  ranged  from  eleven  to  thirty; 
the  average  was  fifteen  and  a  half.  See  Trienniel  Catalogue  of  1791,  in  the 
Boston  Athenaeum,  containing  manuscript  notes  by  President  Quincy. 


24  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  graduated  first  in  his  class. 
But  Harry  Otis  could  always  be  counted  upon  to  take 
part  in  any  sort  of  mischief.  In  a  letter  of  his  riper  years 
he  alludes  to  "our  old  College  practice,  of  putting  a  bul- 
let at  the  end  of  a  whip,  and  when  we  passed  near  a  flock 
of  geese  full  speed,  of  throwing  it  over  the  neck  of  one 
and  jerking  it  into  the  chaise.  When  the  goose  was  caught 
he  must  be  roasted  and  eaten  or  the  sport  was  spoiled. 
No  matter  whether  fat  or  lean,  goose  or  gander,  down  he 
went  before  Billy  Darling's  fire."  Among  his  friends  and 
associates  in  this  and  similar  college  sports  were  several 
future  politicians  and  statesmen,  such  as  William  Pres- 
cott,  Benjamin  Pickman,  Prentiss  Mellen,  and  John 
Welles  of  Massachusetts;  John  Dawson  of  Virginia; 
Ambrose  Spencer  and  John  and  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer 
of  New  York. 

In  an  amusing  undergraduate  letter  to  the  last  named, 
Harry  expresses  his  contempt  for  the  sort  of  instruction 
he  was  privileged  to  receive  at  Cambridge: 

Boston  October  20, 1782. 
My  dear  Stephen, 

The  Subscription  is  open  for  the  Assembly:  may  no  unpro- 
pitious  Occurence  prevent  your  coming  here  and  enjoying  with 
your  usual  Polish,  the  Pleasures  of  this  Metropolis;  —  D[awso]n 
is  in  Philadelphia:  Quiri;  if  his  Eclat  is  as  brilliant  as  it  was 
amongst  us  Yankees.  It  is  now  Vacation  and  I  have  a  tempo- 
rary Respite  from  Pedantry  and  Logic.  May  Father  Time 
ameliorate  his  tardy  Pace  and  hasten  the  desired  Period,  when 
I  shall  bid  adieu  to  the  sophisticated  Jargon  of  a  superstitious 
Synod  of  pension'd  Bigots  and  ramble  in  the  fields  of  liberal 
science.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  friend 

Harrison  Gray  Otis.' 

'  Manuscript  Collection  of  Herbert  Foster  Otis,  Esq. 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH  25 

A  loyal  son  of  Harvard,  an  authority  on  the  history 
of  his  alma  mater,  has  assured  me  that  the  epithets 
applied  by  Harry  to  the  faculty  of  1782  were  none  too 
vigorous.  The  college  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  neglect 
and  decay  from  which  every  institution  of  learning  must 
suffer  during  periods  of  social  convulsion  and  civil  war. 
No  one  then  suspected  that  the  greatest  intellect  in 
Cambridge  belonged  to  a  twenty-one  year  old  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Geneva,  from  whom  Harry  and  a 
few  of  his  classmates  were  permitted  by  the  college 
authorities  to  take  lessons  in  French.  Since  Otis  read 
and  quoted  French  pretty  readily  during  the  rest  of 
his  life,  we  may  assume  that  Albert  Gallatin  was  as 
capable  a  tutor  as  he  afterwards  proved  to  be  a  states- 
man. 

The  class  of  1783  received  their  degrees  from  President 
Willard  not  long  after  the  welcome  news  had  arrived  that 
war  was  over,  and  that  all  the  world  recognized  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States.  Otis  as  the  first  scholar 
in  the  class  was  assigned  the  English  oration.  He  naturally 
chose  the  recent  event  for  his  theme,  and,  as  he  after- 
wards remembered,  painted  *' in  somewhat  gorgeous  colors 
the  prospects  unfolded  to  our  country  by  this  achieve- 
ment of  its  liberties,  and  its  probable  effect  on  the  des- 
tinies of  other  nations. "^°  It  is  a  pleasant  picture  to  look 
back  on,  —  the  black-haired,  keen-eyed  boy  of  seventeen, 
pouring  forth  glowing  prophecies  of  the  future,  before  the 
grave  and  reverend  dignitaries  of  college,  church,  and 
state.  It  was  the  triumphant  end  of  his  boyhood,  and  the 
beginning  of  his  manhood.  He  had  every  advantage  a 
youth  of  his  age  could  ask.  Gentle  birth,  an  alert  and 
active  mind,  a  winning  personality,  and  the  heritage  of 

^°  Address  prepared  for  Harvard  Centennial,  1836.  Quincy,  History  of  Har- 
vard University,  ii,  662. 


26  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

a  great  name:  all  were  his.  Surely  no  boy  was  ever 
launched  into  the  battle  of  life  with  more  brilliant  pro- 
spects than  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  "the  first  scholar  of  the 
first  class  of  a  new  nation." 


CHAPTER  III 

L.\W   AND   BUSINESS 
1783-1796,  ^T.  18-31 

While  at  college,  young  Otis  determined  to  study  law. 
The  legal  profession  was  the  natural  one  for  him  to  follow; 
for,  as  we  have  seen,  his  grandfather  and  great-grandfather 
Otis,  and  his  uncle  James,  had  been  eminent  lawyers  in 
their  day.  During  his  junior  year,  it  looked  as  if  Harry 
might  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  law  by  James 
Otis,  who  had  entered  one  of  those  lucid  intervals  that 
lightened  the  darkness  of  his  later  life.  With  the  return 
of  his  old  intellect  and  brilliancy,  he  seemed  so  completely 
restored  in  reason  that  the  family  planned  to  have  him 
take  charge  of  Harry's  legal  education,  and  uncle  and 
nephew  had  a  long  and  delightful  conversation  on  the  sub- 
ject in  the  course  of  a  drive  from  Andover  to  Boston.  But 
James  Otis  soon  lapsed  into  his  previous  state,  and  died 
before  Harry  left  college.  Samuel  A.  Otis  then  decided 
to  give  his  son  the  very  best  legal  education  that  could 
be  procured  —  at  the  Temple,  in  London.  This  plan, 
also,  fell  through,  since  shortly  after  his  son's  graduation 
the  father's  business,  ajffected  by  the  general  depression 
following  the  war,  became  bankrupt.^ 

^  The  state  of  business  in  1783  was  particularly  unfortunate  for  the  affairs 
of  men  like  S.  A.  Otis,  who  depended  for  a  livelihood  on  supplying  government, 
and  for  speculative  enterprises  to  which  peace  brought  an  abrupt  stop.  A  con- 
tributing cause  of  Otis's  bankruptcy  was  the  failure  of  General  Joseph  Otis  of 
Barnstable,  £6000  in  his  brother's  debt,  after  losing  by  his  mismanagement  the 
estate  left  by  their  father,  the  Colonel,  ^^'hateve^  the  cause,  this  disaster  did 
not  injure  the  reputation  of  S.  A.  Otis,  for  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Court 
for  a  number  of  years,  chosen  speaker  of  the  House  in  1784,  and  appointed 
Secretary  of  the  United  States  Senate  in  1788.  He  held  this  position  through 
successive  administrations,  until  the  day  of  his  death  in  1814,  without  missing, 


28  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

For  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  his  father's  bankruptcy  was 
a  blessing  in  disguise.  It  must  have  been  a  rude  shock  to 
the  young  favorite  of  fortune  to  be  thrown  on  his  own  re- 
sources at  the  age  of  eighteen,  but  it  was  just  what  he 
needed  to  toughen  his  character,  and  develop  his  self- 
reliance.  He  was  fortunate  in  being  saved  from  a  legal 
education  at  the  Temple.  Americans  of  the  upper  class 
at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  too  much  ac- 
customed, as  it  was,  to  look  to  England  for  everything  that 
was  good,  without  receiving  the  additional  bias  of  an  Eng- 
lish education.  Nevertheless,  young  Otis  had  the  best 
legal  education  afforded  by  the  time  and  place,  through 
the  generosity  of  the  eminent  lawyer  and  patriot  John 
Lowell,  who  took  him  as  a  pupil  into  his  office  without 
charge,  out  of  friendship  to  the  Otis  family.  An  anecdote 
afterwards  told  by  Benjamin  Bussey,  a  merchant  of 
Boston,  shows  how  earnestly  Otis  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  law.  Every  morning  on  his  way  to  his  shop,  Mr. 
Bussey  saw  one  of  Mr.  Lowell's  office  windows  decorated 
by  a  pair  of  boots,  that  evidently  belonged  to  some  early 
riser  who  preferred  to  read  with  his  heels  higher  than  his 
head.'  Curious  to  know  how  early  they  occupied  that 
position,  he  arose  before  daybreak  one  morning,  and, 
passing  before  Mr.  Lowell's  office,  found  the  boots  posted 
at  their  usual  place.  On  entering  the  office,  he  discov- 
ered, deep  in  Blackstone,  young  Harry  Otis,  who  said  he 
was  simply  keeping  his  usual  hours  for  study. 

In  the  autumn  of  1783,  this  diligent  student  was  in- 
vited by  Mr.  Lowell  to  accompany  him  on  a  journey  to 
Philadelphia.  Recalling  this  tour  in  his  old  age,  Otis 
wrote:  2 

it  is  said,  a  single  session.    He  married  in  1782,  Mary  (Smith),  widow  of 
Edward  Gray. 

2  Letter  of  November  10,  1846,  to  Charles  Lowell,  in  Historical  Magazine, 
I,  161. 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  29 

This  afforded  me  a  better  opportunity  of  seeing  him  [Lowell] 
in  hours  of  unguarded  relaxation  from  the  cares  of  business  than 
afterwards  occurred.  The  whole  journey  was  a  continued  scene 
of  pleasant  and  instructive  conversation,  and  on  his  part  of  kind 
and  condescending  manners,  sparkling  anecdotes,  and  poeti- 
cal quotations.  We  came  to  New  York  before  the  evacuation 
by  the  British  army  was  consummated.  There  Mr.  Lowell 
found  Col.  Upham,  aid  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  and  Mr.  Ward  Chip- 
man,  judge-advocate,  as  I  recollect,  of  the  British  army,  —  both 
old  acquaintances  and  early  companions.  Their  interview,  after 
eight  years'  separation  and  various  fortunes,  was  most  cordial. 
They  introduced  Mr.  Lowell  to  Sir  Guy,  with  whom  he  and 
my  other  fellow-travellers  dined,  with  a  large  and  splendid 
party  of  military  and  civilians,  into  which  they  had  me  worked, 
as  an  attache  to  the  Boston  delegation;  and  it  seemed  to  me  as 
brilliant  as  Alexander's  feast.  While  in  New  York,  Mr.  Lowell 
received  the  hospitality  and  attentions  of  the  distinguished 
citizens  who  had  begun  to  return  from  exile.  In  Philadelphia, 
among  others,  he  was  waited  upon  by  Mr.  Robert  Morris,  who 
was  still  in  his  glory,  and  regarded  in  public  estimation  next 
to  Washington,  as  the  man  on  whose  financial  exertions  had 
depended  the  success  of  the  Revolution.  He  entertained  us, 
I  still  hanging  as  a  bob  to  a  kite,  at  a  dinner  of  thirty  persons, 
in  a  style  of  magnificence  which  I  had  never  seen  equalled.  I 
left  him  at  Philadelphia,  and  went  on  an  excursion  to  Balti- 
more for  a  few  days.  On  my  return  to  Boston,  I  resumed  my 
desk  and  books  in  his  office. 

After  three  years'  study  with  Judge  Lowell,  young  Otis 
was  recommended  by  the  Suffolk  Bar  Association,  and 
sworn  in  as  an  attorney.  He  borrowed  a  sum  of  money 
to  buy  law  books,  hired  an  oflBce,  and  hung  out  his  shingle. 
His  first  client  was  secured  by  the  lucky  chance  of  being 
at  home  while  all  the  other  lawyers  were  out;  others  came 
through  Mr.  Lowell,  who  turned  over  to  his  pupil  a  part 
of  his  business  in  the  lower  courts.  Thus  Otis  was  enabled 
to  pay  his  debts  by  the  end  of  his  first  year's  practice. 

The  year  1786,  in  which  Otis  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
was  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  Massachusetts.  The  smoulder- 


80  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ing  discontent  of  the  huge  debtor  class  created  by  the 
recent  hard  times  flamed  out  in  the  western  part  of  the 
state.  Shays's  RebelHon,  as  it  was  called,  had  begun; 
whole  counties  were  in  armed  insurrection;  the  courts 
were  forcibly  prevented  from  sitting;  local  conventions 
were  demanding  radical  alterations  in  the  government :  it 
seemed  to  thinking  men  as  if  the  "  goodly  fabric,  that  eight 
years  were  spent  in  raising,"  was  about  to  be  pulled  down 
over  their  heads.  With  the  situation  dangerous  even  to 
Boston,  the  young  men  of  the  town  formed  a  new  militia 
company,  the  "Independent  Light  Infantry,"  and  chose 
Harrison  Gray  Otis  their  captain.  When  Cambridge  was 
threatened  by  an  armed  body  of  insurgents  in  November, 
the  Light  Infantry  was  stationed  at  the  Charles  River 
Bridge,  prepared  for  action,  while  a  troop  of  volunteer 
cavalry  dispersed  the  band,  and  captured  its  leader.  Al- 
though Boston  was  saved  from  attack,  the  rebellion  was 
still  in  full  swing  in  western  Massachusetts,  where  Daniel 
Shays  threatened  the  Federal  arsenal  at  Springfield. 
Finally  the  state  government,  awaking  to  the  seriousness 
of  the  situation,  appointed  Benjamin  Lincoln  commander 
of  the  state  militia,  with  orders  to  raise  a  force  to  break 
the  rebellion.  He  called  at  once  for  volunteers,  and  Otis 
offered  the  services  of  his  company  in  a  letter  of  January 
27,  1787,  to  Governor  Bowdoin:  ^ 

May  it  please  your  Excellency, 

The  Independent  Lt.  Infantry,  ready  to  serve  their  Country 
&  share  the  Dangers  of  their  fellow  Citizens  beg  leave  to  tender 
their  Services  to  your  Excellency  upon  ye  present  occasion,  and 
are  ready  to  march  at  the  Shortest  notice  —  &  to  continue  in 
service  untill  regularly  discharg'd. 

Yr  Excellency's  most  obedt  Servt 

Harrison  G.  Otis  —  Capt.  Indt  Lt  Infantry. 

8  Mass.  Archives,  CLXXXix,  88. 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  31 

This  letter  is  endorsed:  "Capt  Otis  will  proceed  with 
his  Company  to  join  General  Lincoln  and  until  the  junc- 
tion will  be  under  the  command  of  General  Brooks."  The 
company  was  sent  home,  however,  after  advancing  no 
farther  than  Cambridge,  but  Otis  volunteered  his  ser- 
vices as  aide  to  General  Brooks,  and  accompanied  him 
through  the  remainder  of  the  bloodless  but  successful 
campaign.  He  continued  to  serve  in  the  state  militia 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  in  1789  "The  Independent 
Light  Infantry,  under  Major  Otis,"  headed  the  cortege 
that  escorted  President  Washington  into  Boston. 

Taking  to  heart  the  advice  given  his  father  by  James 
Otis,  Harry  made  his  reputation  at  the  beginning  of  his 
career.  In  1788  he  was  chosen  by  the  town  authorities 
to  deliver  the  annual  Fourth  of  July  oration  —  a  singular 
honor  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-three.  The  oration 
seems  labored  and  bombastic  according  to  our  modern 
ideas  of  eloquence.  We  feel  the  "scorching  rays  of  su- 
preme majesty,"  and  the  "pestilential  breath  of  a  des- 
pot"; the  Americans  are  "elevated,  patriotic,  godlike," 
etc.,  etc.  Otis  was  evidently  a  little  ashamed  of  the  effu- 
sion himself,  for  on  sending  a  copy  to  his  grandfather 
Gray,  he  remarked  that  these  expressions  "areas  neces- 
sary for  an  oration  in  this  Country,  as  the  Lemon  juice 
for  punch."  He  seems,  however,  to  have  pleased  his  hear- 
ers, for  one  of  them,  John  Quincy  Adams,  by  no  means  an 
easy  critic  of  other  persons'  performances  wrote:  "The 
composition  and  the  delivery  were  much  superior  even 
to  my  expectations,  which  were  somewhat  sanguine.  It 
was  greatly  superior,  in  my  opinion,  to  that  which  he  de- 
livered when  he  took  his  second  degree;  the  only  public 
performance  that  I  had  heard  before  from  him."  ^ 

The  bulk  of  Otis's  law  practice,  at  the  beginning  of  his 

*  Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  2nd  ser.,  xvi,  433. 


32  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

professional  career,  was  derived  from  the  questions  of  ad- 
miralty and  maritime  rights  that  were  always  coming 
up  in  Boston.  One  of  the  most  amusing,  if  not  the  most 
important  of  his  cases,  was  that  of  Lemon  v.  Ramsden. 
Captain  Clement  Lemon,  it  appears,  had  so  unsavory  a 
reputation  for  drinking  at  sea,  that  he  secured  a  ship  only 
after  signing  the  following  agreement: 

Boston  December  31st,  1790 

Be  it  Known;  I  Clement  Lemon  do  hereby  Agree  to,  and  with, 

Thomas  Ramsden  of  Boston  Mercht.  that  if  I  am  seen  or  known 

to  be  disguised  with  drinking  Liquors,  or  in  any  wise  drunk  or 

disorder'd  with  drinking  during  the  Voyage  now  bound  on  from 

Boston  to  Liverpool  in  the  Brigantine  Mary  Ann  and  back  to 

Boston  —  I  will  forfeit  and  give  up  all  my  Wages  or  demands 

I  may  have  against  the  said  Thomas  Ramsden  or  Brigantine 

Mary  Ann.   In  Witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 

and  seal  this  thirty  first  day  of  december  One  thousand  seven 

hundred  and  Ninety.  ^ 

Clemt.  Lemon 

Sign'd  &  seal'd  in  presence  of 

JosiAH  Bacon. 

But  alas,  Captain  Lemon  became  very  much  "disguised 
with  drinking  Liquors"  during  the  voyage,  and  the  good 
ship  Mary  Ann  meandered  all  over  the  North  Atlantic 
before  it  returned  to  Boston.  The  captain,  nevertheless, 
sued  the  owner  for  the  full  amount  of  his  wages  when  the 
latter,  according  to  the  agreement,  refused  to  pay  them. 
Otis  was  retained  as  attorney  for  the  defendant,  and  dur- 
ing the  trial  produced  in  evidence  of  the  Captain's  con- 
dition the  following  gem  of  English  composition  from  the 
mate  of  the  Mary  Ann.  It  is  addressed  to  "Mr  Thomas 
Ramsdel  Marchant  Boston  head  of  the  Long  Whorf." 

March  2d  1791  Liverpool 

Sir 

With  the  utmost  Satisfaction  I  take  this  opportunity  To  In 
from  you  that  I  have  Left  your  Brig  and  The  Reason  there  off  is 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  SS 

upon  the  aCount  of  the  Capting  Who  has  treated  me  with  very 
onsivel  [lajngeage  —  Nothing  but  quorling  and  fighting  has 
ben  on  board  Sence  we  have  ben  out  we  got  here  in  37  Days 
but  more  by  good  Luck  then  good  Conduckd  and  Now  had  I  a 
Long  bote  I  wold  not  trust  him  as  fare  as  Castle  William  in  hir. 
I  Dont  say  he  gets  Drunk  but  I  say  that  he  can  grink  groge  as 
well  as  my  Self  nor  due  I  say  he  Neckglecks  his  Duty  but  he 
Loves  to  Shpe. 

I  wish  your  vesel  safe  home  and  I  am  very  glad  that  you  have 
hir  Inshured  I  have  no  more  Sir  But  am  you  humble  Sarvent 

Daniel  Lewis.    , 
PS  Sir 

I  wold  in  from  you  that  the  2  small  pigs  Died  and  Capt 
Lemon  Lost  the  Dicsy  Line  ^  and  both  Leades  out  of  his  hand 
overboard  and  then  took  all  the  Lead  of  the  hase  hole  when 
there  was  plenty  of  bolts  and  Speaks  that  wold  answer  the  same 
purpose  I  say  Dam  such  a  fellow  that  Stoes  away  Cags  of  Rum 
on  be  none  ^  to  the  oner. 

By  aid  of  more  direct  and  grammatical  evidence,  Otis 
won  the  case  for  Mr.  Ramsden. 

A  scattered  practice  added  more  to  Otis's  reputation 
than  to  Lis  income,  as  the  following  extract  from  one  of 
his  letters  to  Harrison  Gray,  dated  January  14,  1790, 
indicates: 

My  business  calls  me  and  keeps  me  so  frequently  from  home 
that  I  am  really  able  with  truth  to  say  that  I  have  hardly  had 
time  to  sit  down  and  write  you  deliberately  since  my  last.  If 
these  avocations  into  the  Country  were  as  profitable  as  they 
are  troublesome,  you  would  perhaps  be  reconciled  to  my  appar- 
ent negligence,  but  this  is  far  from  true.  Our  profession  in  this 
Country  is  not  lucrative  and  I  feel  already  that  I  am  doomd  to 
a  hard  life  and  scanty  fortune. 

One  of  these  journeys,  however,  took  Otis  to  New  York 
in  season  to  witness  the  first  inauguration  of  a  President 
of  the  United  States,  on  April  30,  1789.   The  ceremony 

*  Dipsey  (i.e.,  Deep  Sea)  Line.  ^  Unbeknown. 


34  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

was  especially  interesting  to  the  young  man  on  account 
of  the  important  part  taken  in  it  by  his  father,  who  had 
just  been  chosen  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Senate. 
As  he  stood  in  the  crowd  outside  Federal  Hall,  Harry 
could  see  his  father,  conspicuous  among  the  impressive 
group  on  the  balcony,  bearing  on  a  crimson  cushion  the 
open  Bible  on  which  the  President  was  to  take  his  oath  of 
office.  As  the  solemn  words  of  the  inaugural  oath  were 
concluded,  Samuel  Otis  made  a  motion  as  if  to  raise  the 
Bible  to  the  President's  lips,  but  Washington  gently  re- 
strained him,  and  reverently  bowed  to  kiss  the  book.  The 
scene  impressed  itself  indelibly  on  Otis's  memory;  sixty 
years  later  he  wrote:  "No  one  can  describe  the  silent 
tearful  ecstacy,  which  pervaded  the  myriads  who  wit- 
nessed that  scene;  succeeded  only  by  shouts  which  seemed 
to  shake  the  canopy  above  them."  ^ 

Early  in  the  following  year,  1790,  Otis  offered  himself 
to  a  young  lady  whom  he  had  been  courting  for  some  time. 
In  a  letter  that  passed  between  two  of  his  former  college 
mates,  Timothy  Williams  and  Timothy  Bigelow,  we  get 
an  unofficial  view  of  this  important  event  in  Otis's  life: 

H.  G.  Otis  is  to  be  married  in  three  months  to  Miss  Sally 
Foster  —  poor  girl  who  has  been  kept  in  the  twitter  of  expecta- 
tion these  two  years  by  his  attention  to  her,  but  never  received 
an  explicit  declaration  till  within  a  month.  In  this  situation  a 
girl  must  possess  uncommon  fortitude  and  virtue  not  to  express 
or  degrade  herself  in  a  thousand  ways  to  which  she  is  liable  — 
court  instead  of  being  courted. 

Whatever  may  have  been  her  feelings,  the  diffidence  of 
young  Otis  was  probably  due  more  to  the  lack  of  the 
wherewithal  than  to  lack  of  courage.  Long  engagements 
were  looked  upon  askance  in  those  days,  and  a  j^oung  man 
was  not  expected  to  declare  himself  until  he  was  capable 

'  Boston  AUas,  October  2, 1848. 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  35 

of  supporting  a  family.  Miss  Sally  Foster  was  a  beautiful 
and  vivacious  girl  of  twenty,  five  years  the  junior  of  her 
fiance.  She  was  the  daughter  of  William  Foster,  a  re- 
spectable Boston  merchant  who  possessed  considerable 
wealth,  but  who  had  no  intention  of  applying  it  to  supple- 
ment the  income  of  his  son-in-law. 

The  family  correspondence  regarding  the  engagement 
throws  a  pleasant  light  on  the  formalities  of  the  period. 
Mrs.  Samuel  A.  Otis,  Harry's  stepmother,  sent  Miss  Fos- 
ter this  somewhat  qualified  approbation  of  the  match: 

Mrs.  Otis's  love  to  Miss  Foster,  &  cannot  refrain  from  ex- 
pressing the  pleasure  she  feels  in  the  connection  which  is  like 
to  take  place,  &  wishes  Miss  Foster  all  possible  felicity  and 
happiness.  —  Mrs  O.  intends  to  do  herself  the  pleasure  of 
Personally  testifying  her  approbation  of  Mr  Otis's  choice  the 
moment  she  has  reciev'd  the  form  of  his  Father's  consent  [ofl 
which  She's  persuaded  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

Mrs  O.  compliments  to  Mr  &  Mrs  Foster. 
Tuesday  Morag.  Jany.  12th. 

If  she  was  led  to  expect  a  chilly  reception  into  the  Otis 
family  by  the  tone  of  this  letter.  Miss  Foster  was  soon 
relieved  by  a  gallant  epistle  from  her  future  father-in-law: 

New  York  Jan  24  '90 
Dear  Madam 

When  an  old  Gentleman  writes  to  a  fine  young  Lady  his  first 
care  should  be  to  provide  an  apology.  A  declaration  of  Love 
would  be  worse  than  none.  But  dont  be  alarmed  my  dear  Miss 
Forster,  for  altho'  it  must  be  a  cold  heart  indeed  that  is  not 
half  in  love  with  you  at  least,  I  shall  not  make  a  declaration, 
for  many  obvious  reasons.  Love  to  a  very  worthy  &  dutiful 
son  I  may  however  declare;  Nor  will  it  I  hope  oflFend  your  deli- 
cacy if  I  add,  I  am  almost  jealous  too;  For  I  am  convinced  you 
have  engrossed  so  much  of  his  regard  that  I  must  submit  to  a 
transfer.  Give  me  credit  for  a  little  candour  if  I  confess  it  could 
not  in  my  opinion  have  been  made  to  a  more  worthy  object;  And 


36  H.\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

to  whom  I  should  with  greater  pleasure  resign  the  first  place  in 
his  affections  than  to,  —  I  had  like  to  have  said  —  my  Sally. 
And  will  Miss  Forster  permit  me  at  some  future  time  to  call 
her  so?  I  have  lost  an  amiable  daughter.  In  my  Harry's  wife 
I  can  only  hope  to  recover  her.  You  may  rely  upon  the  most 
cordial  reception  into  our  family,  if  you  will  consent  to  be- 
come one  of  us,  &  because  we  all  love  Harry,  tis  impossible  to 
withold  our  affections  from  the  Lady  of  his  choice,  even  if  it 
was  not  one,  whose  "bland  accents"  &  whose  "female  attrac- 
tions steal  the  hearts  of  the  wise."  I  can  only  promise  you  a 
continuance  of  that  solicitude  for  the  dear  youth,  &  all  that  are 
dear  to  him,  which  has  invariably  attended  him  from  his  cradle, 
&  will  I  have  no  doubt,  go  down  with  me  to  my  grave;  On  the 
verge  of  which,  I  shall  retrospect  the  pleasing  reflection,  that 
he  is  happy  in  loving  &  being  beloved,  by  such  an  one  as 
yourself.  I  should  say  more  on  this  agreable  subject  but  I  fear 
my  affectionate  heart  has  already  made  me  too  expressive. 
Permit  me  to  present  my  kind  regards  to  your  good  Mamma, 
and  to  entreat  her  entire  approbation  of  a  plan  of  happiness,  on 
which  I  felicitate  at  least  one  family,  &  to  believe  me  with 
great  sincerity  and  respect,  her  & 

Your  most  Humble  Sert. 

Sam:  A:  Otis. 

The  young  couple  were  married  on  May  31,  1790,  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker  of  Trinity  Church.  A  daughter, 
the  first  of  a  family  of  eleven,  was  born  to  them  on  June 
1,  1791,  and  christened  Elizabeth  Gray,  after  her  sainted 
grandmother.  The  correspondence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Otis, 
which  has  been  preserved  almost  entire  for  the  forty-six 
years  of  their  married  life,  shows  that  their  union  was  ideal. 
Perhaps  the  secret  of  its  success  lay  in  the  fact  that  Mrs. 
Otis  was  very  like  her  husband  in  temperament,  and  made 
his  interests  her  own;  and  that  he  never  ceased  to  be  her 
ardent  lover,  as  well  as  her  faithful  husband. 

Shortly  after  his  marriage,  Otis's  name  begins  to  ap- 
pear prominently  in  the  accounts  of  town-meeting  de- 
bates. We  find  him,  together  with  James  Sullivan  and 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  37 

Dr.  Jarvis,  arguing  in  favor  of  a  city  charter,  at  a  meeting 
of  December  30,  1791.  Thirty-one  years  elapsed  before 
this  movement  bore  fruit,  but  another  matter  of  local  dis- 
sension, in  which  Otis  played  a  prominent  role,  had  more 
immediate  consequences.  This  was  the  question  of  the 
legality  of  theatrical  performances.  "Stage  plays"  were 
forbidden  by  an  act  of  1750,  the  repeal  of  which  was  now 
demanded  by  a  more  enlightened  public  opinion.  Otis 
took  at  first  the  contrary  side  and  opposed,  at  a  town  meet- 
ing in  October,  1791,  the  adoption  of  a  petition  to  the 
General  Court  to  repeal  the  act  in  question.  "So  strong 
was  his  rhetorical  power,"  says  Mr.  Loring,  "that  Samuel 
Adams  lifted  up  his  hands  in  ecstacy  and  thanked  God 
that  there  was  one  young  man  willing  to  step  forth  in  de- 
fence of  the  good  old  cause  of  morality  and  religion.'* 
Harrison  Gray  took  the  trouble  to  write  his  grandson 
from  London: 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  my  child  to  hear  of  the  Christian 
as  well  as  the  political  opposition  you  made  to  the  motion  in 
your  Town  meeting  to  petition  the  General  Court  for  the  re- 
peal of  the  Act  against  plays.  If  your  Legislators  have  any 
regard  for  the  morality  of  the  people,  they  will  not  give  the 
least  countenance  to  the  Stage,  which  by  the  late  Doc.  Tillot- 
son  is  called  the  DeviVs  Chappel;  and  which  is  condemned  by 
the  primitive  church.  The  Fathers  have  given  their  Testimony 
against  it;  I  could  quote  many  extracts  from  the  holy  Fathers 
condemning  plays,  but  shall  content  myself  with  one  from 
Ckrysosiom,  who  in  his  preface  to  his  commentary  upon  St. 
John's  Gospel,  speaking  of  Plays  and  other  public  Shews  says 
"But  what  need  I  branch  out,  the  Lewdness  of  these  spec- 
tacles and  be  particular  in  description,  for  what's  there  to  be 
met  with  but  Lewd  laughing,  but  Smut,  railing  and  buffoon'ry? 
In  a  word  it  is  all  Scandal  and  confusion.  Observe  I  speak  to 
you  all.  Let  none  who  partake  of  the  holy  Table  unqualify 
themselves  with  such  mortal  Diversions." 


S8  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Although  the  General  Court  refused  to  repeal  the  pro- 
hibitory act,  a  company  of  comedians  visited  Boston  the 
following  year,  fitted  up  an  old  stable  with  a  stage,  and 
advertised  their  performances  as  "moral  lectures."  ^ 
Thus  the  situation  continued  for  some  time,  but  on  De- 
cember 2,  1792,  while  the  audience  was  enjoying  a  moral 
lecture  entitled  The  School  for  Scandal,  a  sheriff  suddenly 
appeared  on  the  stage  and  arrested  one  of  the  actors. 
The  audience  became  greatly  excited,  and  a  party  of  en- 
raged young  men  tore  down  and  trampled  under  foot  a 
portrait  of  Governor  Hancock  that  hung  on  one  of  the 
boxes.  So  great  was  public  interest  in  the  affair  that  the 
examination  of  Harper,  the  arrested  actor,  was  held  in 
Faneuil  Hall.  Otis  apparently  had  changed  his  opinion 
about  the  nefariousness  of  stage  plays,  for  he  appeared 
as  Harper's  counsel,  and  made  a  very  clever  defense  on 
technical  grounds.  He  won  his  case,  the  actor  was  dis- 
charged amid  loud  applause,  and  thereafter  Boston 
was  permitted  to  enjoy  the  theatre. 

What  Harrison  Gray  thought  of  this  backsliding  on  the 
part  of  his  grandson  in  favor  of  the  "Devil's  Chappel," 
he  was  careful  to  keep  to  himself,  for  Otis  was  at  that 
time  engaged  in  the  very  delicate  business  of  attempting 
to  recover  some  of  the  Gray  property.^  The  old  gentle- 
man, now  over  eighty  years  of  age,  supported  himself  in 
London  on  an  annual  pension  of  £200  from  the  Crown. 
His  property  in  America  had  met  the  same  fate  as  that  of 
most  loyalists.  The  General  Court  had  given  him  the 
compliment  of  fourth  place  on  a  select  list  of  twenty-nine 

^  The  advertisement  in  the  Independent  Chronicle  of  November  30, 1792, 
reads,  "This  Evening  will  be  delivered  a  Moral  Lecture,  in  five  parts,  called 
Hamlet,  Prince  of  Denmark.  .  .  .  End  of  the  Lecture,  a  Hornpipe.  The  whole 
will  conclude  with  an  entertaining  lecture  called  Love  a-la-Modc." 

'  Cf.  S.  E.  Morison,  "The  Property  of  Harrison  Gray,  Loyalist,"  Publica- 
tions Colonial  Soc.  of  Mass.,  xiv. 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  39 

"Notorious  Conspirators,"  whose  estates  were  confiscated, 
and  by  the  end  of  the  Revolution  all  his  real  estate,  to 
the  value  of  about  £2000  lawful,  was  long  past  recovery. 
In  addition  to  this  loss,  however,  there  were  outstanding 
debts  owed  to  him  in  Massachusetts  to  the  amount  of 
£8036  lawful.  Here  young  Otis  was  able  to  effect  some- 
thing, although  with  endless  trouble  and  small  profit. 
There  were  no  legal  impediments  in  the  way  of  collection, 
but  public  opinion  was  so  hostile  to  the  loyalists  that  few 
juries  would  give  a  verdict  in  their  favor.  The  very  fact 
of  Otis  being  retained  by  Tory  clients,  if  generally 
known,  would  have  been  fatal  to  his  political  aspirations. 
Altogether  it  was  a  very  ticklish  business,  requiring  all  his 
resources  of  cleverness  and  tact.  Otis,  nevertheless,  per- 
sisted in  it,  out  of  a  sense  of  justice  and  family  duty,  and 
was  afterwards  able  to  boast  that  he  saved  more  from  his 
grandfather's  fortune  than  had  all  the  other  agents  of 
Boston  loyalists  put  together.  His  usual  method,  when 
forced  to  resort  to  a  lawsuit,  was  to  procure  an  assign- 
ment of  the  debt  from  his  grandfather  to  himself,  so 
that  the  jury  could  not  be  appealed  to  on  the  ground  that 
the  creditor  was  an  outlawed  Tory. 

One  item  in  the  list  that  gave  him  more  trouble  than 
all  the  rest  was  a  debt  of  £956  165.  5d.  sterling  due  from 
John  Hancock.  This  sum  was  lent  to  the  patriot  leader 
by  Treasurer  Gray  before  the  Revolution  as  an  advance 
on  his  salary,  when  there  was  no  money  in  the  treasury 
to  pay  it.  Otis  was  obliged  to  proceed  in  this  case  with 
more  than  ordinary  caution.  Hancock  wielded  so  great 
an  influence  in  Massachusetts  that  even  the  Harvard 
Corporation  dared  not  press  him  hard  for  the  settlement 
of  his  long  outstanding  accounts  with  the  college.  If 
Otis  went  to  law,  this  powerful  debtor  could  easily  have 
procured  an  act  from  the  General  Court  permitting  him 


40  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

to  tender  the  sum  to  the  Commonwealth  in  paper  money; 
he  might  even  have  blasted  Otis's  reputation.  During 
four  years,  from  1789  to  Governor  Hancock's  death  in 
1793,  Otis  wrote  him  letter  after  letter,  danced  attend- 
ance in  his  waiting-room,  received  appointments  only  to 
have  them  broken  on  the  plea  of  illness,  but  never  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  a  direct  reply,  oral  or  written,  to  his  de- 
mands. "I  have  taken  such  unwearied  pains  with  regard 
to  this  debt  for  years  past,"  Otis  wrote  his  grandfather 
at  one  time,  "I  have  experienced  such  disappointment 
deceit  &  falsehood,  that  I  have  almost  despaired  of  re- 
ceiving a  farthing."  Finally,  in  1795,  after  both  John  Han- 
cock and  Harrison  Gray  were  dead,  Otis  recovered  two 
thirds  of  the  original  debt  by  a  clever  move  against  the 
Governor's  widow.  She  became  engaged  that  year  to 
Captain  Scott,  who  commanded  a  packet  ship  between 
Boston  and  England.  "As  all  former  arguments  had 
failed,"  Otis  wrote  Harrison  Gray,  Jr.,  "it  occurred  to 
me  that  some  advantage  might  arise  from  the  intended 
connection  of  Mrs.  H  and  Capt  <Scott,  especially  as  an 
idea  prevailed  of  her  intention  to  accompany  him  to  Eng- 
land. I  therefore  gave  intimation,  which  I  knew  would 
reach  her  ears,  of  a  determination  to  prosecute  for  the 
debt  in  England,  if  Mr.  Scott  should  ever  be  found  there 
after  marriage,  and  this  suggestion  though  it  could  never 
have  been  executed,  very  unexpectedly  produced  its  ef- 
fect, and  induced  the  parties  concerned  to  hearken  to 
terms  of  accommodation." 

Meanwhile,  Boston  was  recovering  its  ancient  prosper- 
ity. The  population,  which  decreased  from  15,500  in 
1770  to  10,000  in  1780,  owing  to  the  loyalist  exodus  and 
the  hardships  of  war,  rose  to  18,000  in  1790,  and  to  24,000 
in  1800.  With  commerce  and  business  of  every  sort  ex- 
panding rapidly,  Otis  was  not  one  to  be  left  behind  in 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  41 

such  a  movement.  Samuel  Breck,  in  his  Recollections, 
gives  a  pleasant  picture  of  Otis  in  1792,  toiling  away  at 
his  profession.  He  borrowed  a  thousand  dollars,  it  seems, 
from  ]Mr.  Breck,  and  on  repaying  it,  told  him  that  "the 
utmost  extent  of  his  desires  as  to  riches  was  to  be  worth 
ten  thousand  dollars,"  certainly  a  very  moderate  ambi- 
tion. '"It  has  pleased  God  to  allow  us  a  very  full  measure 
of  domestic  felicity  hitherto,"  Otis  wrote  in  December, 
1792.  "We  have  two  fine  children,  one  of  each  sex;  my 
affairs  have  been  prosperous  beyond  my  most  sanguine 
expectations,  and  I  have  a  full  share  of  business." 

When  his  political  career  began  in  1796,  Otis  had  al- 
ready risen  to  a  leading  position  in  the  bar  of  Suffolk 
County,  which,  though  small  in  numbers,  was  rich  in 
talents.  Such  men  as  Theophilus  Parsons,  Christopher 
Gore,  James  and  William  Sullivan,  Samuel  Dexter,  Wil- 
liam Prescott,  Josiah  Quincy,  and  John  Lowell,  Jr.,  were 
Otis's  brother  lawyers  and  competitors;  all  but  the  first 
three  were  within  a  few  years  of  his  age.  Parsons,  Dexter, 
and  Otis  were  the  acknowledged  leaders  in  the  period  be- 
tween 1795  and  1815.  Each  excelled  in  some  one  quality: 
Parsons  in  learning  and  intellect.  Dexter  in  reasoning 
power,  and  Otis  in  eloquence,  tact,  and  personality.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  say  whether  his  power  of  graceful 
oratory  or  his  capacity  for  making  every  one  his  friend, 
was  his  greater  asset  as  a  lawyer.  The  rich  and  varied  vo- 
cabulary at  his  command  was  the  despair  of  his  rivals. 
When  Chief  Justice  Shaw  heard  that  Noah  Webster  was 
about  to  issue  a  dictionary  containing  three  thousand 
new  words,  he  exclaimed,  "For  heaven's  sake,  don't  let 
Otis  get  hold  of  it!"  10 

*"  N.  S.  D.'s  "Recollections  of  the  Boston  Bar,"  in  Historical  Magazine 
n.  s.,  VIII  (1870),  185.  Fisher  Ames,  in  his  oft-quoted  letter  on  the  Suffolk  Bar 
in  1800  {Works,  i,  300),  says,  "Otis  is  eager  in  the  chase  of  fame  and  wealth, 


42  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

At  this  period  the  Boston  Bar  was  composed  almost 
excKisively  of  members  of  the  leading  Federalist  fami- 
lies, and,  owing  to  the  small  numbers  and  the  close  per- 
sonal friendships  that  existed  among  the  lawyers  and 
the  judges,  there  was  an  informality  about  the  procedure 
that  would  now  be  impossible.  Otis  was  allowed  free  rein 
for  his  oratory,  until  his  friend  and  colleague  Theophilus 
Parsons  was  elevated  to  the  supreme  bench  of  the  Com- 
monwealth in  1806.  The  new  Chief  Justice  started  out 
with  the  idea  of  shortening  the  length  of  trials,  which  had 
become  a  crying  abuse.  Many  were  the  flowers  of  elo- 
quence about  to  blossom  from  Otis  or  Lowell  or  Prescott, 
that  his  ruthless  authority  nipped  in  the  bud.  A  story  is 
told  of  one  case,  in  which  Judge  Parsons  broke  in  on  Otis's 
argument  with,  "Brother  Otis,  don't  waste  j^our  time  on 
that  point,  there  is  nothing  in  it."  Otis  stopped,  bowed 
to  the  bench  in  a  somewhat  surprised  manner,  and  went 
on  to  another  point.  After  a  moment:  "Nor  in  this  either, 
Brother  Otis;  don't  waste  your  time."  Otis  bowed  once 
more,  and  took  up  a  third  point,  only  again  to  be  inter- 
rupted. "I  regret  to  find  myself,  your  Honor,  unable  to 
please  the  Court  this  morning,"  he  remarked  with  some 
asperity.  "  Brother  Otis,"  replied  the  Judge,  with  his  most 
winning  smile,  "you  always  please  the  Court  when  you 
are  right." 

Before  he  was  thirty  years  old,  Otis  not  only  had  achieved 
this  enviable  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  but  also  had  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  fortune  by  wise  investments  in  real 
estate.  His  largest  and  most  profitable  venture  was  the 
purchase  of  the  Copley  Pasture  in  1795.  Early  in  that 
year  he  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to  procure  a 

and,  with  a  great  deal  of  eloquence,  is  really  a  good  lawyer,  and  improving.  He, 
however,  sighs  for  political  oflBce  —  he  knows  not  what;  and  he  will  file  off  the 
moment  an  opportunity  offers." 


LAW  AND  BUSINESS  43 

site  for  a  new  State  House  in  Boston.  The  committee 
found  by  far  the  best  situation  to  be  the  so-called  "Gov- 
ernor's Pasture,"  near  the  top  of  Beacon  Hill,  and  just 
above  the  Boston  Common.  This  land  they  purchased 
for  the  Commonwealth  from  Governor  Hancock's  heirs, 
and  there  the  present  State  House  was  built.  Meanwhile 
Otis  had  opportunity  to  observe  that  the  building  of  the 
State  House  would  give  prestige  to  Beacon  Hill,  and  make 
its  southwestern  slope,  facing  the  Common  and  the  Back 
Bay,  an  ideal  residential  district.  The  entire  slope  at  that 
time  was  an  upland  pasture,  encroached  upon  only  by  the 
Hancock  mansion  and  one  or  two  wooden  dwellings.  Ex- 
cept for  the  Hancock  estate,  it  was  the  property  of  John 
Singleton  Copley,  the  celebrated  Boston  painter.  Since 
Copley  had  resided  in  England  for  twenty  years,  his  prop- 
erty was  in  the  hands  of  an  agent,  who,  on  being  ap- 
proached by  a  syndicate  formed  by  Otis,  was  injudicious 
enough  to  sign  a  bond  for  the  sale  of  the  entire  Beacon 
Hill  estate  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand  dollars  an  acre. 

When  he  heard  of  this  transaction,  Copley  disavowed 
his  agent's  act,  refused  to  execute  the  deed,  and  sent  his 
son  (afterwards  Lord  Lyndhurst)  to  Boston  in  order  to 
break  the  bond.  But  the  future  Lord  Chancellor  of  Eng- 
land found  that  young  IVIr.  Otis  had  taken  care  of  all  the 
technicalities.  The  contract  was  binding,  and  Copley  was 
forced  to  convey  the  property  to  Otis  et  al.  for  the  stipu- 
lated sum  of  $18,450.  But  the  matter  did  not  end  here. 
Since  no  deeds  to  Copley  could  be  found,  one  claimant 
after  another  came  forward  during  the  next  fifty  years  to 
contest  the  title  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Proprietors,  the 
name  under  which  Otis  and  his  colleagues  had  incorpo- 
rated themselves."  These  efforts  were  unsuccessful,  how- 

*^  The  original  purchasers  were  Otis  and  Jonathan  Mason  (each  a  three- 
tenths  interest)  and  Joseph  Woodward  and  Charles  Ward  Apthorp  (each  a  two- 


44  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ever,  and  the  old  pasture  proved  a  veritable  gold-mine 
for  its  purchasers.  It  covered  the  territory  now  bounded 
by  Beacon  Street,  Walnut  Street,  a  line  drawn  diagon- 
ally from  Walnut  Street  to  Louisburg  Square,  Pinckney 
Street,  and  the  Charles  River.  Originally  over  eighteen 
acres,  this  tract  amounted  to  almost  as  much  again  when 
the  mud-flats  at  the  foot  of  Beacon  Hill  were  filled  in. 
Before  Otis  died,  the  whole  territory,  exclusive  of  the 
flats,  was  covered  with  first-class  houses,  and  the  Copley 
Pasture  had  become,  as  he  foresaw,  the  fashionable 
residential  district  of  Boston. 

Otis  did  not  confine  his  speculations  to  real  estate;  he 
was  interested  in  one  or  more  of  the  Western  land  com- 
panies of  the  period,  and  in  wild  lands  in  Maine  and 
Georgia.  By  1796  he  had  built  himself  a  substantial  brick 
dwelling,  still  standing,  on  the  corner  of  Cambridge  and 
Lynde  Streets,  and  had  accumulated  considerable  prop- 
erty for  a  young  man  who  eleven  years  before  had  none. 
Assured  of  a  steady  income  sufficient  to  support  his 
family,  Otis  was  ready  to  enter  the  field  of  national 
politics. 

tenths  interest).  Woodward  and  Apthorp  soon  sold  out  to  Benjamin  Joy.  For 
the  whole  Copley  affair,  see  articles  by  "Gleaner"  (N.  I.  Bowditch),  reprinted 
in  the  Fifth  Report  of  the  Boston  Record  Commissioners,  147-171.  The  Otis  pa- 
pers give  many  additional  details.  It  appears,  for  instance,  that  Copley  re- 
ceived from  the  Proprietors  almost  a  thousand  guineas  in  addition  to  the 
original  price,  in  return  for  furnishing  evidence  in  regard  to  his  title. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A   HAMILTONIAN   FEDERALIST 
1794-1796,  JET.  29-31 

It  was  in  the  nature  of  things  inevitable  that  Harrison 
Gray  Otis  should  take  up  politics  as  a  profession.  He  was 
especially  fitted  for  it  by  heredity,  education,  and  char- 
acter. In  New  England  during  the  eighteenth  century, 
as  in  Old  England,  social  position  and  political  success 
were  almost  synonymous.  Some  one  or  other  of  his  an- 
cestors had  been  in  public  life  since  1688,  and  few  families 
in  the  United  States  had  played  a  more  important  part 
in  the  Revolution  than  his.  Men  were  inclined  to  look 
favorably  upon  him  for  what  his  grandfather,  father,  and 
uncles  had  done  in  the  great  cause  of  independence. 
Young  Otis,  moreover,  not  only  inherited  the  name,  but 
the  characteristics  of  his  ancestors  that  win  success  in 
politics.  He  possessed  the  gift  of  eloquence,  which  was 
then  a  far  more  important  factor  in  a  politician's  equip- 
ment than  it  is  to-day,  and  also  the  very  essential  quali- 
ties of  tactfulness  and  popularity.  However,  since  in  his 
day,  as  now,  a  public  career  was  unremunerative  to  honest 
men,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  provide  for  the  support 
of  his  family,  before  he  could  enter  politics.  With  the 
accomplishment  of  that  task,  in  1796,  came  the  op- 
portunity. 

In  order  to  understand  Otis's  position  at  the  outset  of 
his  political  career,  we  must  glance  briefly  at  the  political 
situation  in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century.  One 
party,  the  Tories,  had  been  eliminated  from  the  American 
political  system  by  the  Revolution;  the  triumphant  Whig 


46  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

party  then  split  into  Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists  on 
the  question  whether  the  Constitution  of  1787  should  or 
should  not  be  adopted.  Once  the  Constitution  was  rati- 
jBed,  the  Anti-Federalists  were  eliminated  —  not,  like  the 
Tories,  by  bodily  removal  from  the  country,  but  by  re- 
conciliation with  the  new  government.  At  this  stage  came 
a  new  division  which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
in  defiance  of  all  human  experience,  had  hoped  to  avoid. 
The  separation  was  none  the  less  inevitable,  for  the  same 
divergent  political  tendencies  remained  in  the  people 
after  1788  as  before.  Opposition  to  the  triumphant 
Federal  party,  developing  as  Hamilton  unfolded  his  won- 
derful system,  found  a  leader  in  1790  in  the  person  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  farmer,  scientist,  diplomat,  and  phi- 
losopher, fresh  from  Revolutionary  Paris.  We  may  fix 
the  date  of  Jefferson's  return  —  March,  1790  —  as  the 
birth  of  the  two  national  parties  that  occupied  the  stage 
for  the  next  quarter  of  a  century :  the  Federal  or  Feder- 
alist party,*  under  the  lead  of  Hamilton,  and  the  Repub- 
lican or  Democratic  party  ^  under  the  guidance  of  Jef- 
ferson. 

To  Hamilton's  standard  flocked  the  mercantile,  non- 
agricultural  classes  throughout  the  Union,  who  were 
interested  in  a  strong  and  eflBcient  government,  sound 
finance,  and  a  vigorous  foreign  policy.  The  principles  of 
Federalism  appealed  also  to  men  who  had  the  common 
sense  to  see  that  the  country  had  enjoyed  an  excess  of 

*  Both  terms  are  correct;  throughout  this  work  I  have  employed  the  former, 
which  was  more  generally  used  at  the  time.  The  oflBcial  name  of  the  party 
was  "  Federal  Republican." 

*  According  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  I  have  used  both  terms  interchange- 
ably for  the  party  of  Jefferson.  "Republican"  was  the  term  preferred  by  the 
party  itself,  as  it  was  implied  that  the  Federalists  were  monarchists ;  "  Demo- 
cratic," at  first  a  term  of  opprobrium,  was  accepted  by  the  Jeffersonians  as 
early  as  1795.  (See  Independent  Chronicle,  May  14, 1795.)  The  Federalists  also 
called  the  Jeffersonians  "Anti-Federalists,"  but  this  term  is  properly  applied 
only  to  the  party  that  opposed  the  Constitution  of  1787. 


A  HAMILT0NL4N  FEDERALIST  47 

liberty;  that  consolidation  and  strength  were  necessary  to 
preserve  the  Union.  Jefferson,  on  the  other  hand,  united 
and  typified  the  agricultural  classes,  which  looked  with 
suspicion  on  financial  schemes  they  did  not  understand, 
and  saw  in  the  Hamiltonian  system  only  an  attempt  to 
corrupt  the  government  and  to  pave  the  way  for  a  mon- 
archy. He  also  represented  the  idealists,  the  theoretical 
democrats  of  the  period,  who  had  sublime  faith  in  the 
fallacious  theory  of  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau,  that  a  weak 
and  decentralized  government  was  the  best  safeguard  of 
libert3\  Persons  like  Samuel  Maclay  and  Elbridge  Gerry, 
who,  morbidly  suspicious  of  tyranny,  saw  indications  of 
a  deep-laid  monarchical  plot  in  Washington's  dignified 
aloofness,  and  in  John  Adams's  love  for  titles  and  trap- 
pings, naturally  followed  Jefferson. 

Many  of  the  differences  between  the  Republicans  and 
the  Federalists  were  only  those  of  "Outs"  and  "Ins," 
and  were  mutually  exchanged  after  the  Republicans  had 
tasted  the  sweets  of  power,  and  Federalists  the  dregs  of 
defeat.  But  there  was  between  them  a  fundamental  cleft 
which  was  summed  up  in  radically  opposite  opinions  of 
their  leaders.  As  Henry  Adams  has  said  in  his  Life  of 
Gallatin:  "Mr.  Jefferson  meant  that  the  American  System 
should  be  a  democracy,  and  he  would  rather  have  let  the 
world  perish  than  that  this  principle,  which  to  him  repre- 
sented all  that  man  was  worth,  should  fail.  IVIr.  Hamil- 
ton considered  democracy  a  fatal  curse,  and  meant  to 
stop  its  progress."  ' 

Federalism  made  its  widest  appeal  in  the  more  thickly 
settled  parts  of  the  country,  along  the  seacoast  and  navi- 
gable rivers,  where  commerce  took  precedence  over  agri- 
culture, and  the  wealthy  classes  had  long  been  in  control 
of  politics.  The  strength  of  Republicanism  lay  in  the  more 

»  Life  of  Gallatin,  159. 


48  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

remote  agricultural  country,  and  it  spread  with  the  west- 
ern advance  of  the  frontier.  Massachusetts  from  the  first 
was  a  stronghold  of  the  Federal  party,  owing  to  the  pre- 
valence of  commercial  interests  in  the  eastern  half  of  the 
state,  and  to  the  conservative  reaction  that  set  in  after 
Shays's  Rebellion.^  Both  parties,  however,  united  in  the 
support  of  John  Hancock  for  Governor  until  his  death  in 
1793,  and  of  Samuel  Adams  until  1796.  The  Federalists 
generally  controlled  the  state  legislature,  and  their  nomi- 
nees were  elected  from  1790  to  1794  in  all  districts  ex- 
cept Hampshire  County  (the  old  stamping  ground  of 
Shaysism),  Middlesex  County  (in  1794),  and  the  Cape. 
James  Bowdoin,  Fisher  Ames,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  and 
Samuel  Dexter  were  at  this  period  the  most  popular  lead- 
ers of  Massachusetts  Federalism.  But  from  the  first  there 
stood  out  from  its  ranks  a  clearly  defined  group  which 
often  dominated  it,  and  which  maintained  its  importance 
as  long  as  the  party  existed.  This  was  the  famous  Essex 
Junto.  It  was  composed  chiefly  of  hard-headed  merchants 
and  lawyers  of  Essex  County,  where  mercantile  and  mari- 
time interests  were  even  stronger  than  in  Boston.  Stephen 
Higginson,  George  Cabot,  and  Theophilus  Parsons  were 
its  earliest  leaders;  Timothy  Pickering  was  an  influential 
member,  even  when  absent  from  Massachusetts,  and  a  few 
Boston  Federalists,  such  as  Fisher  Ames,  Timothy  Bige- 
low,  Christopher  Gore,  and  John  Lowell,  Jr.,  afterwards 
became  identified  with  the  group.  This  Essex  Junto,  the 
ultra-conservative  and  ultra-sectional  wing  of  the  party, 
refused  all  compromise  with  democracy,  distrusted  the 
French  Revolution  from  the  very  start,  failed  entirely 
to  sympathise  with  the  South  and  West,  and,  in  short, 
was  blind  to  the  fact  that  the  world  had  moved  forward 
since  1775  and  1789.    Otis  happily  characterized  the 

*  A.  E.  Morse,  The  Federalist  Party  in  Massachusetts  to  1800. 


A  HAMILTONL\N  FEDERALIST  49 

group  when  he  wrote  Josiah  Quincy,  in  1811:  "There  is 
not  one  of  these  sworn  brothers  who  is,  or  ever  was,  a 
poHtician,  or  who  ever  had  what  old  John  Adams  calls  the 
tact  of  the  feelings  and  passions  of  mankind;  but  they 
are  men  of  probity,  of  talent,  of  influence,  and  the  Federal 
party  may  say  of  them,  Non  possum  vivere  sine  te  nee 
cum  te!"  ^ 

Otis  naturally  joined  the  Federal  party.  He  had  seen 
with  his  own  eyes,  in  Shays's  Rebellion,  the  dangers  of  a 
minimum  of  government  and  an  excess  of  democracy. 
His  professional  and  business  connections  with  the  mer- 
cantile classes  in  a  great  mercantile  centre  made  it  to  his 
interest  that  the  finances  of  the  country  should  be  on  a 
sound  basis.  His  appointment,  in  1796,  as  a  director  of  the 
Boston  branch  of  the  United  States  Bank  further  identi- 
fied him  with  the  interests  which  formed  the  backbone 
of  the  Federal  party.  Most  important  of  all,  he  was  by 
birth  a  member  of  the  native  aristocracy.  In  the  Revolu- 
tion the  larger  portion  of  that  class  was  Tory;  but  families 
like  the  Otises  who  joined  the  patriot  cause  abandoned 
none  of  their  conservative  principles.  They  had  fought 
for  independence  from  Great  Britain,  not  independence 
from  government  and  social  restraint,  and  consequently 
they  expected  the  wheels  of  democratic  evolution  to  stand 
still  in  1783.  "You  and  I  did  not  imagine,  when  the  first 
war  with  Britain  was  over,  that  revolution  was  just  be- 
gun," Otis  wrote  an  old  friend,  half  a  century  later.  Young 
Copley,  the  future  Lord  Lyndhurst,  wrote  from  Boston 
in  1796:  "The  better  people  are  all  aristocrats.  My  father 
is  too  rank  a  Jacobin  to  live  among  them." 

The  two  great  parties  crystallized  on  the  question  of 
the  nation's  attitude  toward  the  struggle  between  Re- 
volutionary France  and  the  rest  of  Europe :  the  Federal- 

*  Edmund  Quincy,  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  242. 


50  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ists  became  zealous  champions  of  England ;  the  Republi- 
cans, of  France.  In  1793  the  issue  was  first  squarely  pre- 
sented, by  the  announcement  that  war  had  broken  out 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  French  Republic,  and  that 
Citoyen  Genet,  minister  of  the  French  Republic  to  the 
United  States,  intended  to  use  this  country  as  a  French 
naval  base  against  England.  President  Washington,  in 
his  famous  proclamation  of  April  23,  1793,  met  the  situa- 
tion by  a  declaration  of  neutrality,  and  a  refusal  to  permit 
either  belligerent  to  use  United  States  ports  as  bases  for 
privateering.  Later  in  the  year  came  the  news  that  both 
England  and  France,  at  the  outset  of  the  struggle,  had 
issued  severe  and  illegal  edicts,  subjecting  to  capture  and 
spoliation  the  neutral  commerce  of  the  United  States. 
This  problem  of  foreign  relations  remained  unsolved 
until  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812  and  of  the  Napoleonic 
epoch. 

Washington's  policy  of  neutrality  was  entirely  distaste- 
ful to  the  Republicans,  and  satisfied  the  Federalists  only 
for  a  brief  period,  Jefferson's  party  let  itself  be  carried 
away  by  its  enthusiasm  for  the  militant  French  Republic, 
and  made  the  cause  of  Citoyen  Genet  its  own.  Within  a 
week  of  his  arrival  at  Philadelphia  the  Democratic  Club 
was  founded,  on  the  model  of  the  Jacobin  Club  of  Paris, 
and  like  the  parent  institution  it  helped  to  form  a  chain 
of  clubs  throughout  the  Union.  These  societies  carried  on 
a  lively  abuse  of  Washington  for  his  neutrality  policy, 
denounced  the  Federalists  as  hirelings  of  Britain,  and  by 
intimidating  judges  thwarted  the  administration  in  its 
attempt  to  preserve  neutrality.  The  "Constitutional 
Club"  in  Boston  encouraged  the  French  consul  to  defy 
a  United  States  marshal,  and  even  instigated  the  frigate 
La  Concorde  to  a  piratical  attack  on  a  merchant  vessel 
owned  by  Federalists. , 


A  HAMILTONIAN  FEDERALIST  51 

Conduct  such  as  this,  added  to  the  course  of  the  French 
Revolution  itself,  and  their  close  mercantile  relations  with 
England,  drove  the  Federalists  into  as  strong  sympathy 
with  Great  Britain  as  the  Republicans  expressed  for 
France.  In  the  earlier  phases  of  the  French  Revolution  the 
Federalists  yielded  nothing  to  the  Republicans  in  their 
enthusiasm  for  this  great  movement.  It  was  considered 
a  triumph  of  American  revolutionary  principles;  the  of- 
ficers who  had  fought  for  the  colonies  were  among  its 
leaders;  Valmy  and  Jemappes  were  hailed  as  another 
Bunker  Hill  or  Saratoga.  But  when  Louis  XVI,  the  friend 
of  America,  was  executed,  when  the  Reign  of  Terror  com- 
menced, when  property,  religion,  and  morals  were  no 
longer  respected,  conservatives  felt  that  the  very  bases 
of  society  were  threatened.  The  manifestations  of  Dem- 
ocratic clubs  on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  the  Whiskey 
Rebellion  in  Pennsylvania,  which  Washington  himself 
attributed  to  their  injfluence,  made  the  Federalists  believe 
that  similar  excesses  were  possible  in  this  country.  Otis 
thus  expressed  the  sense  of  his  party  in  a  letter  to  his  wife : 
"Should  Great  Britain  be  compelled  to  yield,  it  is  my 
opinion  that  our  liberties  and  independence  would  fall  a 
sacrifice.  She  is  the  only  barrier  to  the  dreadful  deluge, 
and  when  that  is  broken  down,  it  wull  be  time  for  us  to 
prepare  to  be  good  and  dutiful  subjects  to  the  French." 
On  the  other  side,  a  Republican  newspaper  of  Boston 
announced,  and  doubtless  beheved,  that:  "If  Britain  is 
victorious,  the  United  States  will  be  as  a  Republic  an- 
nihilated."« 

In  like  manner  foreign  events  and  foreign  issues  con- 
tinued to  dominate  American  politics,  until  the  War  of 
1812  brought  an  end  to  this  political  and  intellectual 
thralldom.     The  settled  and  influential  portion  of  the 
'  Independent  Chronicle,  October  27,  1796. 


52  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

United  States  was  far  nearer  to  Europe  in  thought  than 
to  its  own  hinterland,  and  was  overpowered  by  the  immen- 
sity of  the  European  struggle.  Federalists  and  Republi- 
cans alike  believed  that  their  country's  fate  depended 
on  the  issue  of  events  across  the  Atlantic.  The  newspapers 
devoted  the  greater  part  of  their  space  to  foreign  news, 
and  much  of  the  remainder  to  pithy  applications  of  it  to 
home  politics.  French  ministers  interfered  in  presidential 
elections,  and  Federalist  leaders  unbosomed  their  plans  to 
envoys  of  Great  Britain.  Politically  and  intellectually, 
the  American  people  until  1815  were  in  the  colonial  epoch; 
their  politics  were  but  a  shadow  of  the  great  drama  across 
the  Atlantic. 

Although  Otis  was  not  able  to  devote  his  entire  time 
to  politics  before  1796,  he  took  part  in  contests  with  the 
local  Democracy  for  several  years  previous.  Boston  was 
always  a  Federalist  town.  The  lawyers  and  merchants 
almost  without  exception  belonged  to  that  party,  and  as 
many  of  them  had  been  popular  leaders  in  the  Revolution, 
they  carried  a  majority  of  the  people  with  them.  Boston 
was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  ratification  of  the  Constitu- 
tion in  1788,  and,  when  the  issue  was  drawn  between 
Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  elected  to  Congress  Fisher  Ames, 
one  of  Hamilton's  closest  friends  and  allies.  The  local 
Democracy,  however,  made  up  in  noise  and  activity 
what  it  lacked  in  strength.  It  possessed,  in  Dr.  Charles 
Jarvis,  a  member  of  Otis's  class  of  society,  and  in  Ben- 
jamin Austin,  a  ropemaker,  whose  rabid  essays  over  the 
signature  "Honestus"  were  much  dreaded,  two  leaders 
of  great  ability. 

Otis  was  instrumental  in  preventing  the  town  from 
falling  into  Democratic  hands  on  a  memorable  occasion 
in  1794.  The  Federal  party  that  year  was  much  em- 
barrassed by  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  toward  the 


A  HAMILTONIAN  FEDERALIST  53 

United  States.  The  British  government  continued  to 
hold  its  Western  posts,  now  in  American  territory,  and 
British  privateers  and  prize  courts  were  sweeping  Amer- 
ican commerce  from  the  seas.  James  Madison,  the  Re- 
publican leader  in  Congress,  introduced  seven  resolutions 
on  January  3,  1794,  providing  for  retaliation  on  British 
commerce.  This  plan  did  not  meet  the  ideas  of  the  sea- 
board merchants  who  controlled  the  Federal  part3^  Since 
about  seven  eighths  of  their  trade  was  with  Great  Britain, 
they  preferred  to  enjoy  it  on  her  terms  rather  than  risk 
losing  the  whole  by  retaliation,  —  an  attitude  that  they 
steadily  maintained  for  the  next  twenty  years.  The 
excitement  in  Boston  over  Madison's  resolutions  was  in- 
tense. Jarvis  and  Austin,  reviving  a  custom  of  Revolu- 
tionary days,  called  a  town  meeting  "to  take  the  sense  of 
the  inhabitants."  They  hoped,  by  playing  on  the  old 
hatred  of  England,  to  overrule  the  mercantile  interests, 
and  procure  resolutions  requesting  the  Massachusetts 
Congressmen  to  support  Madison;  they  very  nearly  suc- 
ceeded. The  town  meeting,  begun  at  ten  in  the  morning 
of  February  24,  adjourned,  owing  to  the  crowd,  from  Fan- 
euil  Hall  to  the  Old  South  at  three,  lasted  there  until  after 
dark,  and  adjourned  until  the  next  day.  Only  at  one  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  25th  did  the  Federalists  succeed  in 
wearing  out  their  opponents,  and  in  securing  an  indefinite 
postponement  of  the  whole  matter.  After  the  affair  was 
over  the  Centinel  remarked,  "We  cannot  omit  mentioning 
in  a  particular  manner,  Mr.  Otis,  who  took  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  course  of  the  debate,  in  opposition  to  the  Re- 
port. His  fellow  citizens  did  justice  to  his  abilities,  and 
eloquence";  and  Christopher  Gore  wrote  Senator  King  of 
New  York,  "  It  is  said  that  we  owe  very  much  to  Eustis, 
Jones  &  Codman  and  Lyman.  Otis  also  took  a  decided 
part  and  greatly  aided  the  cause  of  good  government  & 


54  H.VRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

order."  ^  Although  this  is  the  first  recorded  instance  of 
Otis's  entering  the  pohtical  arena,  the  language  of  both 
reporters  indicates  that  it  was  not  his  first  performance. 

In  recognition,  doubtless,  of  his  part  in  this  exhausting 
contest,  Otis  was  given  in  1794  and  1795  a  place  on  the 
Federalist  ticket  for  the  "Boston  Seat,"  i.e.,  the  town's 
quota  of  Representatives  in  the  General  Court.  On  both 
occasions  the  Federalist  ticket  was  defeated.  This  result, 
also,  was  due  mainly  to  the  influence  of  foreign  affairs. 
Between  the  town  meeting  of  February  24  and  the  State 
elections  in  May,  1794,  news  arrived  of  a  fresh  British 
decree  against  neutral  commerce,  even  more  outrageous 
than  the  previous  ones,  and  of  Lord  Dorchester's  inflam- 
matory speech  to  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest.  The 
Federalists,  for  refusing  to  take  retaliatory  measures 
against  Great  Britain  earlier  in  the  year,  were  naturally 
discredited. 

Meanwhile,  President  Washington  had  averted  almost 
certain  war  by  sending  John  Jay  to  London.  All  was 
suspense  until  the  result  of  his  negotiation  should  be 
heard.  Otis  described  the  situation  in  a  letter  of  Novem- 
ber 15,  1794,  to  his  uncle,  Harrison  Gray,  Jr.: 

We  have  just  passed  through  the  turbulent  period  of  the 
election  of  members  for  Congress.  Strenuous  exertions  have 
been  made  by  the  anti-federal  faction  throughout  the  Union, 
but  generally  without  success.  Mr.  Ames  is  reelected  here,  and 
the  Friends  to  peace  and  good  order  are  greatly  encouraged  by 
the  appearance  of  our  public  affairs.  Much  however  j'ou  are 
sensible  depends  on  Great  Britain.  The  moderate  and  respect- 
able part  of  the  Community  wait  with  patience  and  anxiety  the 
result  of  Mr.  Jay's  mission;  but  should  justice  be  denied  to  our 
claims,  I  think  a  very  general  sentiment  of  indignation  &  spirit 
of  resentment  will  prevail  here  among  all  classes  of  people  & 
produce  a  rupture  between  the  countries. 

^  C.  R.  King,  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Rufus  King,  i,  547. 


A  HAMILTONIAN  FEDERALIST  55 

In  July,  1795,  the  text  of  Jay's  treaty  was  made  public, 
and,  as  Henry  Adams  has  said,  "threw  a  sword  into  the 
body  politic."  A  howl  of  rage  followed  the  news  through 
the  country,  and  effigies  of  John  Jay  went  up  in  smoke 
all  the  way  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  The  treaty  was  in- 
deed humiliating,  and  all  parties  at  first  united  in  con- 
demning it.  At  a  crowded  town  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall 
on  July  10,  not  a  single  vote  was  registered  in  its  favor. 
George  Cabot,  of  the  Essex  Junto,  was  willing  to  swallow 
the  treaty  whole,  but  he  had  to  attend  Harvard  Commence- 
ment to  find  sympathizers.^  Gradually,  however,  the  con- 
servative elements  came  to  see  that  Jay's  treaty  was  bet- 
ter than  none,  and  that  the  only  alternative  to  accepting 
it  was  war.  When  Washington  finally  signed  the  agree- 
ment, without  the  objectionable  article  forbidding  the 
United  States  to  export  molasses  or  cotton,  the  Federal 
party  to  a  man  approved. 

But  the  last  chance  to  defeat  the  Jay  Treaty  had  not 
expired.  The  House  of  Representatives,  through  its  power 
to  defeat  the  necessary  appropriations  to  carry  it  into  ef- 
fect, held  a  veto  over  the  treaty;  and  under  the  lead  of 
Edward  Livingston  and  Gallatin,  a  determined  effort 
was  made  by  the  Republicans  to  exercise  this  preroga- 
tive. The  Boston  Federalists,  seeing  another  crisis  at 
hand,  called  a  town  meeting  for  April  25,  1796.  Dr.  Jar- 
vis,  the  Democratic  leader,  opened  the  debate.  Then 
Otis  made  such  a  speech  that  it  seemed  "a  new  and  fright- 
ful planet  blazed  through  the  darkness,  and  dispelled  the 
clouds."  At  his  conclusion  Bishop  Cheverus,  the  gifted 
Catholic  prelate,  "threw  his  arms  around  Otis,  and  while 
tears  were  streaming  down  his  cheeks,  exclaimed : '  Future 
Generations,  young  man,  will  rise  up  and  call  thee 
blessed ! '"  ^     Such  is  the  traditional  account  of  Otis's 

8  H.  C.  Lodge,  Life  of  George  Cabot,  80.  »  Loring,  308. 


56  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

speech.  Unfortunately  the  only  contemporary  report  of 
it  is  in  the  Independent  Chronicle,  which,  as  a  leading 
opposition  journal,  attempted  to  depreciate  the  "new 
and  frightful  planet."  According  to  its  account,  Otis  be- 
gan by  painting  the  horrors  of  the  war  that  would  be 
necessary  to  drive  the  British  forces  from  the  Western 
posts  if  the  treaty  was  blocked  —  the  same  line  of  argu- 
ment followed  by  Fisher  Ames  in  his  celebrated  oration 
three  days  later.  After  a  rejoinder  by  Benjamin  Austin, 
and  a  general  discussion,  "Mr.  Otis  concluded  the  de- 
bate," to  quote  from  the  Chronicle,  "by  a  very  pathetic 
eulogy  on  the  President,  and  a  very  illiberal  reflection 
on  Mr.  Gallatin,  who  Mr.  Otis  said  was  the  leader  of 
the  majority  in  Congress.  Shall  we  (said  Mr.  O.)  join  a 
vagrant  foreigner  in  opposition  to  a  Washington;  a  for- 
eigner w^ho  to  his  knowledge  ten  years  ago  came  to  this 
Country  without  a  second  shirt  to  his  back?  A  man  who 
in  comparison  to  Washington  is  like  a  Satyre  to  a  Hype- 
rian.?" 

No  doubt  Otis's  attack  on  Gallatin  was  delivered  in 
rather  vigorous  language,  for  in  those  days  gentlemen 
seldom  permitted  the  amenities  of  private  intercourse  to 
dull  the  acerbity  of  political  controversy,  Gallatin,  more- 
over, was  regarded  by  Federalists  as  a  low  foreign-born 
adventurer,  the  instigator  of  the  Whiskey  Insurrection, 
and  the  connecting  link  between  the  American  and 
French  Jacobins. 

"Bold  convicts  lend  their  aid  in  every  state, 
Genevan  Albert  and  Hibernian  Mat"  — 

runs  a  bad  verse  in  the  Jacohiniad,  in  reference  to  Galla- 
tin and  Lyon.  Still,  we  are  glad  to  find  that  Otis  was  a 
little  ashamed  of  his  reflection  on  the  size  of  his  old  tutor's 
wardrobe,  and  had  the  courage  to  risk  his  party's  disappro- 


A  HAMILTONIAN  FEDERALIST  57 

bation  by  apologizing  to  Gallatin  after  they  had  met  in 
Philadelphia.  10 

Otis's  "Second  Shirt  Speech,"  as  his  effusion  was  called, 
was  widely  commented  on  by  newspapers  of  both  parties. 
Immediately  after  its  conclusion,  a  vote  of  confidence  in 
Washington's  administration  had  been  proposed,  and 
carried  by  a  vote  of  about  2400  to  100.  This  was  a  per- 
sonal triumph  for  Otis;  he  had  met  Democracy  in  its 
citadel,  the  assembly  of  the  people,  and  had  conquered  it 
by  his  eloquence.  Immediate  recognition  came  from  his 
party;  on  May  26,  1796,  the  President  commissioned 
him  United  States  District  Attorney  for  Massachusetts. 
Having  higher  objects  in  view,  Otis  refused  to  accept  this 
appointment,  but  consented  to  act  under  it  temporarily 
until  a  successor  could  be  procured. 

The  eloquence  of  this  speech  was  not  wholly  respon- 
sible, however,  for  the  change  of  sentiment  in  Boston. 
The  same  phenomenon  was  taking  place  throughout  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  response  to  a  circular  letter  of  the  Feder- 
alist leaders  in  Boston,  almost  every  town  in  the  state 
memorialized  Congress  to  carry  out  Jay's  treaty.  This 
notable  increase  in  Federalist  strength  was  due  partly 
to  a  conservative  reaction  against  the  excesses  of  Demo- 
cratic clubs  and  mobs;  partly  to  the  efforts  of  the  ortho- 
dox clergy,  who  for  two  years  had  been  preaching  Feder- 
alism in  and  out  of  the  pulpit.  In  the  spring  elections  to 
the  General  Court,  the  Federalists  regained  their  hold  on 
Boston.  Otis  and  the  entire  Federalist  ticket  were  elected 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  strong  majority. 

The  next  autumn  came  Otis's  opportunity  for  further 
advancement.  Fisher  Ames,  who  had  represented  the 
First  Middle  (Suffolk)  District  in  the  first  four  Con- 
gresses, decided  to  withdraw  from  politics,  and  regarded 

"  Chronicle.  July  27  and  August  3,  1797.   Cf.  below,  p.  77. 


58  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Otis  as  his  most  promising  successor.  The  Centinel  an- 
nounced on  November  2 :  "The  Federalists  are  determined 
to  be  united  on  Hon.  Tho:  Dawes  for  an  elector,  and  Harri- 
son G.  Otis  for  a  Representative.  They  give  this  early 
information  that  our  brethren  in  the  middle  district  may 
know  unequivocally  who  are  considered  in  the  capital  as 
real  Federal  characters."  In  behalf  of  James  Bowdoin, 
the  opposition  candidate,  Otis  was  attacked  in  the  Chron- 
icle for  his  "Second  Shirt  Speech"  on  Gallatin,  and  ac- 
cused of  being  "a  mere  Automaton  of  funds,  banks,  and 
land-jobbing  speculators."  But  on  November  7,  1796, 
when  Massachusetts  as  a  whole  cast  her  ballot  for  John 
Adams  for  President,  the  First  Middle  District  elected 
Harrison  Gray  Otis  to  Congress,  by  a  substantial 
majority." 

^1  This  district  included  *Boston,  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Dedham,  *Weston, 
*Brookline,  *Newton,  *Needham,  *Natick,  *Sherburne,  Hopkinton,  Holliston, 
Sharon,  *East  Sudbury,  Medway.  Those  marked  *  gave  Otis  a  majority.  In 
the  Chronicle  for  November  10  appeared  accusations  that  over  four  hundred 
of  the  votes  for  Otis  were  given  by  "British  residents,  refugees,  etc.";  but 
these  charges  were  successfully  refuted.  A.  E.  Morse,  Fed.  Party,  163. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   FRENCH   PERIL 
1796-1798,  ^T.  31-33 

Otis*s  congressional  career,  from  1797  to  1801,  covered 
a  period  when  the  neutrality  and  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  were  threatened  by  the  American  policy  of 
the  French  Republic.  Nineteen  twentieths  of  the  congres- 
sional business  during  this  period  concerned  directly  or 
indirectly  our  French  relations.  It  will  be  necessarj^  there- 
fore, to  enter  into  the  policy  and  aims  of  France  in  order 
to  understand  the  attitude  of  Otis,  as  a  Federalist  Con- 
gressman. 

From  the  date  of  the  publication  of  Jay's  treaty  with 
Great  Britain,  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
France  went  from  bad  to  worse.  That  agreement  was  a 
blow  to  French  influence  in  the  United  States,  since  it 
gave  England  privileges  to  which  France  considered  her- 
self alone  entitled  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  alliance  of 
1778,  and  it  violated  in  several  respects  the  French  con- 
struction of  that  document.  The  principal  French  objec- 
tion to  the  Jay  Treaty,  however,  was  that  it  settled  dif- 
ficulties between  the  United  States  and  England  which 
the  French  Republic  counted  upon  to  produce  hostilities. 
Protests  and  threats  having  failed  to  prevent  its  ratifi- 
cation by  the  Senate,  France  attempted  coercion  of  the 
United  States  through  commerce-destroying.  Beginning 
in  July,  1796,  the  Directory  promulgated  a  series  of  out- 
rageous decrees  against  neutral  commerce;  and  under 
their  authority  French  privateers  began  to  capture,  and 


60  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

French  prize  courts  to  condemn,  every  American  vessel 
bound  to  or  from  ports  in  the  British  Empire.  By  the 
month  of  June,  1797,  over  three  hundred  captures  had 
been  made,  many  of  them  attended  by  atrocious  cruelty 
to  the  American  crews. 

When  these  aggressions  began.  President  Washington 
recalled  the  minister  to  France,  James  Monroe,  a  friend 
of  Jefferson  who  had  proved  himself  incapable  of  caring 
for  American  interests,  and  appointed  in  his  place  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  a  moderate  Federalist  of  South 
Carolina.  But  the  French  Directory  took  leave  of  Mon- 
roe with  threats  and  insults,  refused  to  receive  his  suc- 
cessor until  the  "grievances"  of  France  were  redressed, 
and  on  February  3, 1797,  threatened  Pinckney  with  arrest 
if  he  remained  in  Paris. 

As  a  result  of  the  continued  depredations  on  our  com- 
merce, and  the  threatening  attitude  of  the  Directory, 
President  Adams  summoned  the  Fifth  Congress  to  a 
special  session  in  the  spring  of  1797.  Otis  was  present  at 
the  first  quorum,  on  May  15.  Philadelphia  was  then  the 
national  capital,  and  Congress  Hall,  a  plain  brick  build- 
ing adjoining  Independence  Hall,  was  the  scene  of  Otis's 
political  activities  during  the  next  three  years.  That  por- 
tion occupied  by  the  House  of  Representatives  is  unplea- 
santly described  by  a  contemporary  as  "A  room  without 
ventilators,  more  than  sufficiently  heated  by  fire,  to  which 
is  superadded  the  oppressive  atmosphere  contaminated  by 
the  breathing  and  perspiration  of  a  crowded  audience."  ^ 
At  its  full  strength,  the  House  of  Representatives  num- 
bered one  hundred  and  six  members.  Among  those  promi- 
nent in  his  own  party,  Otis  found  the  veteran  Jonathan 
Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  who  was  elected  Speaker,  James 

*  Letter  of  Thomas  Pinckney,  March  4, 1798,  in  his  Life,  by  C.  C.  Pinck- 
ney, 180. 


THE  FRENCH  PERH.  61 

A.  Bayard  of  Delaware,  Roger  Griswold,  the  future  war 
governor  of  Connecticut,  and  from  the  same  state  Chaun- 
cey  Goodrich,  future  colleague  of  Otis  in  the  Hartford 
Convention.  South  Carolina  sent  a  small  but  most  nota- 
ble Federalist  delegation,  — William  Smith  of  Charleston, 
Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  and  John  Rutledge,  Jr.  The  two 
last,  recent  converts  to  Federalism,  embraced,  like  most 
converts,  the  most  extreme  doctrines  of  their  new  party. 
Harper,  who  had  already  served  two  terms,  was  now  the 
ablest  debater  and  pamphleteer  on  the  Federalist  side  of 
the  House,  and  Rutledge,  elected  in  1796  as  a  non-parti- 
san, turned  Federalist,  like  many  South  Carolinians,  after 
the  insulting  rejection  of  his  fellow-citizen  Pinckney  by 
the  Directory.  Both  were  men  of  Otis's  age  and  tastes; 
they  became  his  lifelong  friends,  and  like  him,  never  de- 
serted the  Federal  party. 

Prominent  among  the  "Jacobins"  ^  in  the  Fifth  Con- 
gress were  John  Nicholas  and  William  B.  Giles,  two  vet- 
eran parliamentarians  from  Virginia;  Nathaniel  Macon 
of  North  Carolina,  serving  the  fourth  of  his  fifteen  terms 
in  Congress;  Edward  Livingston,  future  lawgiver  of  Lou- 
isiana, representing  his  family  interests  in  New  York;  and 
the  ablest  man  in  the  House,  Otis's  old  tutor  of  the  single 
shirt,  Albert  Gallatin,  whose  Genevan  origin  was  still 
betrayed  by  his  accent.  Besides  the  members  aflSliated 
with  Federalism  or  Republicanism,  there  was  a  handful 
of  new  and  unattached  backwoods  members,  whose  sup- 
port was  ardently  wooed  by  both  sides. 

Otis  served  in  Congress  during  one  of  the  most  Intense 
periods  of  party  feeling  that  the  country  has  ever  passed 

*  This  term  was  applied  to  the  Republican  party  by  the  Federalists  in  1793, 
on  account  of  their  opponents'  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. It  remained  in  current  use  until  1815.  Jefferson,  in  retaliation,  coined 
several  nicknames  for  the  Federalists,  such  as  "Anglomen,"  "Monocrats," 
etc.,  which  never  became  popular. 


62  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

through.  The  principles  of  the  two  parties  were  opposite 
and  irreconcilable;  the  one  believed  in  a  government  by 
the  upper  classes,  the  other,  in  a  government  by  the  people; 
the  one  feared  French  influence  and  democracy,  the  other, 
monarchical  plots  and  aristocracy.  To  all  this  contention 
was  added  a  rigid  social  cleavage.  Members  of  the  two 
parties  studiously  avoided  each  other  on  the  street  and 
in  society:  there  were  Republican  taverns  and  Federalist 
taverns;  Republican  salons,  and  Federalist  salons.^  Out- 
side the  halls  of  Congress,  party  warfare  raged  in  the  par- 
tisan press,  with  a  violence  and  bitterness  of  language 
that  the  good  taste  of  a  later  epoch  has  proscribed.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  Bache  was  still  conducting  the  Aurora, 
which  had  spared  not  even  Washington  from  its  torrents 
of  abuse  and  filth,  and  William  Cobbett  paid  him  back  in 
kind  through  the  columns  of  Peter  Porcupine' s  Gazette. 
After  Monroe  returned  from  France,  his  acrimonious 
correspondence  with  Pickering,  and  his  dishonorable 
disclosure  of  the  Reynolds  affair  in  order  to  tarnish 
Hamilton's  reputation,  added  more  fuel  to  the  flames  of 
party  hatred. 

The  first  business  before  the  House  was  to  draw  up  an 
answer  to  the  President's  speech.  During  the  Federalist 
period  the  President  always  delivered  his  opening  mes- 
sage in  person,  and  each  house  went  in  a  body  to  his  resi- 
dence to  present  a  reply.  This  graceful  custom  was  hap- 
pily done  away  with  by  Jefferson,  for  the  framing  of  a 
suitable  reply,  in  times  of  high  party  feeling,  wasted  sev- 
eral weeks.  In  this  instance,  the  debate  over  the  Answer 
of  the  House  lasted  until  June  3.  When  the  Committee 
on  the  Answer  brought  before  the  House  a  draft  that  fully 
responded  to  the  President's  sentiments,  Nicholas  of  Vir- 
ginia immediately  proposed  an  amendment  to  it,  to  the  ef- 

'  See  chap.  ix. 


THE  FRENCH  PERIL  63 

feet  that,  "we  flatter  ourselves  that  the  Government  of 
France,"  by  its  dismissal  of  Pinckney,  "only  intended  to 
suspend  the  ordinary  diplomatic  intercourse"  in  favor 
of  "extraordinary  agencies,"  and  that  a  disposition 
to  remove  the  inequalities  of  treaties  would  produce 
the  desired  accommodation.  In  other  words,  that  all 
the  demands  of  the  French  government  should  be 
obeyed. 

Words  like  these  made  the  Federalists'  blood  boil,  and 
precipitated  a  vigorous  debate.  Otis,  as  a  new  member, 
was  not  expected  to  take  part,  in  spite  of  his  reputation  for 
eloquence.  "His  talents  will  distinguish  him,"  wrote  his 
predecessor,  Fisher  Ames,  ^  "and  I  hope  he  will  be  care- 
ful to  wait  patiently  in  Congress  until  they  do;  but  he 
is  ardent  and  ambitious."  Such  was  the  case.  Young 
Harry  Otis,  burning  with  anti-Jacobin  fire,  refused  to 
remain  in  the  background,  and  on  May  23,  1797,  just  a 
week  after  the  session  began,  delivered  his  maiden  speech 
on  the  Nicholas  Resolution:  " 

«  Works,  I,  202. 

^  Annals  of  Fifth  Congress,  103-108.  In  quoting  speeches  made  in  Congress, 
I  have  transposed  them,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  to  the  first  person  and  the 
present  tense.  Otherwise  no  liberties  have  been  taken  with  the  text  as  given  in 
the  Annals,  and  omissions  are  always  indicated.  The  Annals  are  the  best  re- 
ports of  the  debates  we  have, 'although  neither  impartial  nor  accurate.  The  fol- 
lowing letter  of  March  29,  1798,  from  Joseph  Gales,  the  editor,  to  Otis  throws 
light  on  the  method  of  reporting: 

"Sir:  When  you  presented  me  with  a  Five  Dollar  Note  some  days  ago  for 
the  extraordinary  trouble  which  you  thought  I  had  had  on  your  account,  I 
then  doubted  whether  I  ought  to  receive  it.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  been 
offered  any  money  for  any  thing  which  I  had  done  in  the  business  of  debate 
taking.  I  now  believe  I  ought  not  to  have  received  it,  and  therefore  return  it, 
that  I  may  not,  at  the  same  time  that  I  am  charged  with  Partiality,  be  charged 
also  with  Ingratitude. 

"  In  answer  to  your  Note,  I  can  only  say,  that  I  have  now  an  injunction  laid 
upon  me  by  my  Employers  to  bring  every  day's  business  into  one  paper.  Of 
course,  after  I  come  from  the  house,  I  have  to  write  an  account  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  day  before  I  sleep,  or  at  least  before  I  come  to  the  house  next  day. 
If  you,  therefore  (or  any  other  member,  for  I  cannot  accuse  myself  of  any  par- 
tiality) speak  very  late  in  the  sitting,  and  when  I  come  to  your  observations. 


64  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

The  present  is  not  an  ordinary  occasion,  and  the  situation  of 
the  country  requires  that  the  Answer  shall  not  be  a  spiritless 
expression  of  civility,  but  a  new  edition  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  .  .  .  For  my  part,  I  conceive  that  all  party 
distinctions  ouglit  now  to  cease;  and  that  the  House  is  now 
called  by  a  warning  voice,  to  destroy  the  idea  of  a  geographical 
division  of  sentiment  and  interest  existing  among  the  people. 
My  constituents  and  myself  are  disposed  to  regard  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Southern  States  as  brothers,  whose  features 
are  cast  in  the  same  mould,  and  who  have  waded  through  the 
same  troubled  waters  to  the  shore  of  liberty  and  independ- 
ence. .  .  . 

The  injuries  sustained  by  us  are  of  a  high  and  atrocious  na- 
ture ...  If  any  man  doubts  of  the  pernicious  effects  of  the 
measures  of  the  French  nation,  ...  let  him  inquire  of  the 
ruined  and  unfortunate  merchant,  of  the  farmer  whose  produce 
is  falling,  and  will  be  exposed  to  perish  in  his  barns.  Where 
are  you  sailors?  Listen  to  the  passing  gale  of  the  ocean,  and  you 
will  hear  their  groans  issuing  from  French  prison-ships! 

There  was  a  time  when  I  was  animated  with  enthusiasm  in 
favor  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  I  cherished  it,  while  civil 
liberty  appeared  to  be  the  object :  but  I  now  consider  that  Rev- 
olution as  completely  achieved,  and  that  the  war  is  continued 
—  not  for  liberty,  but  for  conquest  and  aggrandisement,  to 
which  I  do  not  believe  it  is  the  interest  of  this  country  to  con- 
tribute. 

Otis  then  made  an  unjustifiable  argument  for  severer 
measures  against  France  than  those  taken  against  Great 
Britain  in  1794,  on  the  ground  that  the  British  were  stim- 
ulated to  annoy  our  commerce  through  an  apprehension 
that  we  were  united  with  France  against  them,  and  the 
French,  by  a  belief  that  we  were  divided  in  their  favor.  ^ 

my  time  is  expired,  I  must  abridge  what  you  have  said  very  materially,  in  doing 
which  it  cannot  be  expected  that  I  should  be  very  correct. 

"  In  future,  however,  since  you  have  desired  it,  I  shall  omit  what  you  say  al- 
together, if  I  cannot  give  anything  like  a  complete  sketch  of  your  sentiments." 

*  This  was  a  common  argument  of  extreme  Federalists.  "  I  debit  the  French 
and  American  Jacobins  with  the  whole  loss  by  British  spoliation."  J.  Lowell, 
The  Antigallican,  26. 


THE  FRENCH  PERIL  65 

He  stigmatized  the  resolutions  offered  by  Nicholas  as 
"an  absurd  and  humiliating  apology."  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  argue  for  measures  of  defense,  jSrst  tearing  up 
the  opposition  doctrine  that  defensive  measures  could 
justly  be  construed  by  France  into  acts  of  hostility:  — 
"If  negotiation  fail,  will  the  French  give  us  time  to  equip 
our  vessels,  fortify  our  ports,  and  burnish  our  arms,  in 
order  to  show  us  fair  play?"  —  and  concluded  with  a 
grand  burst  of  rhetoric: 

The  tide  of  conquest  has  deluged  Europe;  it  may  swell  the 
great  Atlantic  and  roll  towards  our  shores,  bringing  upon  its 
troubled  surface  the  spirit  of  revolution,  which  may  spread  like 
a  pestilence,  possibly  in  the  Southern  States,  and  excite  a  war 
of  the  most  dreadful  kind  —  of  slaves  against  their  masters,  and 
thereby  endanger  the  existence  of  that  Union  so  dear  to  my 
constituents,  and  the  separation  of  which  would  be  as  painful 
as  the  agonies  of  death. 

This  speech  of  Otis  gave  him  a  national  reputation  for 
oratory.  Judge  Iredell  wrote  Oliver  Wolcott,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury:  "Mr.  Otis'  speech  has  excited 
nearly  as  warm  emotions  as  Mr  Ames'  celebrated  one, 
on  the  treaty.  It  does  indeed  the  highest  honor  to  his 
patriotism  abilities  and  eloquence,  and  I  confess,  much 
as  I  expected  from  him,  far  exceeds  my  expectations."  ^ 

Otis's  maiden  speech  was  not  simply  a  display  of  rhet- 
oric; it  was  his  confession  of  faith  as  a  steadfast  member 
of  the  Federalist  party,  and  an  indication  of  that  party's 
opinion  of  French  policy.  Before  proceeding  further,  let 
us  take  advantage  of  our  remote  standpoint  to  ascertain 
what  the  American  policy  of  France  in  1797  really  was, 
and  how  far  Otis's  analysis  was  correct. 

The  successive  French  governments  from  1793  to  1800 
constantly  aimed  to  incorporate  the  United  States  into 

»  Gibbs,  I,  543. 


66  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

the  French  system  of  alliances.  France  needed  the  provi- 
sions and  produce  of  the  United  States  for  herself  and 
her  West-Indian  colonies;  she  demanded  as  a  right,  under 
the  treaty  of  1778,  the  use  of  American  ports  for  naval 
bases  against  Great  Britain ;  she  hoped  to  use  the  poten- 
tial naval  strength  of  America  to  increase  her  own.  In 
pursuit  of  these  ends  the  French  government  had  three 
different  methods.  The  first,  commerce-destroying  and 
bullying  diplomatic  correspondence,  had  its  effect;  but 
the  Directory  knew  that  mere  brutality  would  be  in- 
sufficient to  keep  in  tutelage  a  republic  separated  by 
three  thousand  miles  of  ocean  from  the  armies  of  Bona- 
parte, Jourdan,  and  Moreau.  The  real  danger  of  the 
French  policy  lay  in  the  two  other  weapons,  of  which  the 
first  was  intervention  in  American  politics,  —  that  we 
shall  consider  presently,  —  and  the  second,  the  recovery 
of  her  ancient  territory  in  North  America.  The  possession 
of  Louisiana  and  Canada  would  render  France  and  her 
colonies  independent  of  the  United  States  for  provisions, 
and  draw  a  French  cordon  about  the  United  States  that 
would  check  its  expansion,  threaten  its  western  territory, 
and  make  it  as  much  a  tributary  to  French  policy  as 
Belgium  or  Holland.  From  1796  to  1800  the  French 
government  was  pressing  Spain  to  cede  it  Louisiana,  a 
policy  which  finally  succeeded  in  1800,  and  as  an  alter- 
native, in  case  negotiation  failed,  French  agents  were 
sent  into  Vermont,  Georgia,  and  the  trans-Alleghany 
region,  to  stir  up  sedition  against  the  United  States,  and 
to  start  filibustering  expeditions  against  Spanish  and 
British  America.^ 

'  F.  J.  Turner:  "The  Diplomatic  Contest  for  the  Mississippi,"  Amer. 
Hist.  Rev.,  X,  249-79,  with  bibliography  in  footnotes.  This  policy  was  con- 
stantly urged  on  the  French  government  by  the  successive  ministers  at  Phila- 
delphia. 1903  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  ii,  566-70,  929, 
1015-77  passim. 


THE  FRENCH  PERIL  67 

By  the  time  the  Fifth  Congress  assembled,  the  Feder- 
alist leaders  had  a  fairly  correct  idea  of  the  difiFerent  lines 
of  French  policy;  ^  their  only  mistake  was  in  overesti- 
mating the  final  goal  toward  which  it  was  tending. 
Chiefly  conducive  to  their  belief  were  the  current  events 
of  Europe,  which  seemed  full  of  ominous  lessons  for  the 
United  States.  Almost  every  European  mail  brought 
news  of  some  fresh  aggression  of  France  on  a  neighboring 
country.  One  after  another,  the  ancient  governments  of 
the  old  world  had  fallen  victim  to  French  intrigues,  in 
alliance  with  a  French  party  at  home.  By  the  time  that 
the  Fifth  Congress  assembled,  France,  by  these  methods, 
had  annexed  Belgium,  and  secured  an  absolute  control 
over  Holland  and  Genoa.  The  news  of  Napoleon's  parti- 
tion of  Venice,  which  arrived  during  the  first  session,  and 
the  sad  tale  of  Switzerland's  subjection,  which  reached 
America  in  the  summer  of  1798,  both  demonstrated 
the  fate  of  republics  that  could  not  or  would  not  defend 
themselves  against  French  force  and  intrigue.  ^°    The 


'  The  designs  of  France  on  Louisiana  and  the  West  were  known  through 
Monroe;  and  the  movements  of  French  agents  in  the  Western  country  were 
regularly  reported  to  the  government,  and  through  it,  to  the  press.  B.  C. 
Steiner,  James  McHenry,  259,  263,  264,  272;  Gibbs,  i,  350  et  seq.,  548,  551. 

^°  See  the  application  of  these  events  to  the  United  States,  in  Hamilton's 
"Warning"  {Works,  vii,  619,  624-27),  and  R.  G.  Harper:  Observations  on  the 
Dispute  between  the  United  States  and  France,  addressed  .  .  .  to  his  constitu- 
ents. May,  1797.  This  pamphlet,  which  appeared  shortly  after  the  meeting  of  the 
Fifth  Congress,  was  most  influential  in  forming  public  opinion.  It  ran  through 
at  least  seven  American,  fourteen  British,  one  French,  and  one  Portuguese, 
editions.  Otis,  in  his  Letter  to  William  Heath  (p.  24),  reminds  his  readers  of  the 
"fearful  fate  of  other  countries,  the  blood  stained  revolution  of  Geneva,  the 
incorporation  of  Belgium,  the  subjugation  of  Holland,  the  divisions  of  Italy, 
the  sale  of  Venice,  the  commotions  of  Switzerland,  and  their  known  designs 
on  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas."  Chauncey  Goodrich  wrote  John  Treadwell  of 
Connecticut,  June  6,  1798:  "In  some  of  the  late  papers  I  have  forwarded  to 
Mr.  Gordon,  is  told  the  melancholy  tale  of  miserable  Switzerland.  It  seems  to 
have  been  written  by  some  friendly  spirit  to  admonish  us."  Treadwell  MSS., 
Connecticut  Historical  Society.  The  most  cursory  perusal  of  the  correspondence 
of  other  Federalist  leaders  will  yield  many  similar  statements. 


68  'HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

French  spoliations  on  our  commerce,  the  machinations 
of  French  ministers  with  the  Democrats,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  French  spies,  all  pointed  to  similar  intentions  on 
the  part  of  France  toward  the  United  States;  and  by  the 
middle  of  1798  most  Federalists,  from  Washington  down, 
believed  that  the  French  Directory  would  invade  the 
United  States  from  Santo  Domingo,  raise  a  slave  insur- 
rection in  the  South,  and  seek  to  set  up  a  vassal  republic 
west  of  the  Alleghanies  or  south  of  the  Potomac." 

Otis  helped  to  spread  this  belief  through  his  first 
political  pamphlet,  a  published  letter  to  General  William 
Heath  of  Roxbury,  dated  March  30,  1798:^2 

[I  expect  that  the  French  Republic  will  proceed]  to  last 
extremities  against  this  country,  whenever  she  shall  be  at 
leisure  for  this  purpose,  and  shall  be  confirmed  in  the  belief  that 
our  internal  divisions,  and  blind  infatuation  in  her  favor,  will 
enable  her,  if  not  to  conquer,  at  least  to  divide  the  Union.  .  .  . 
War  is  not  the  most  effectual  instrument,  nor  the  first  which 
France  employs  in  the  manufacture  of  the  rights  of  man :  Spies, 
emissaries,  exclusive  patriots,  and  the  honest  but  deluded  mass 
of  the  people,  are  the  tools  with  which,  in  other  countries,  she 
carves  revolutions  out  of  the  rough  material.  The  Generals  and 
soldiers  are  reserved  to  give  the  finishing  stroke.  .  .  .  Can  you. 
Sir,  seriously  doubt  of  their  hopes  and  expectations  that 
Georgia,  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia  will  pass  under  their 
yoke?  That  they  have  an  eye  upon  a  Cis  Apalachian  as  well  as 
upon  a  Trans  Apalachian  Republic? 

"  See  Mason's  letter  to  Otis  of  March  24,  1798,  following  chapter  vi;  lead- 
ing articles  in  the  Columbian  Centinel,  February  3,  1798;  Sparks's  Washington, 
XI,  248;  J.  C.  Welling,  Addresses,  etc.,  279.  Timothy  Pickering,  the  Secretary 
of  State,  wrote  R.  G.  Harper,  March  21,  1799,  that  he  had  received  authentic 
information  of  a  projected  French  invasion  of  the  South  from  Santo  Domingo 
under  General  Hedouville,  to  be  preceded  by  negro  emissaries  to  arm  the  slaves. 
Pickering  MSS.,  x,  502. 

^^  General  Heath,  a  Revolutionary  veteran,  had  acted  as  chairman  of  a  Rox- 
bury town  meeting,  which  drew  up  a  petition  against  permitting  merchant 
vessels  to  arm  in  their  defense,  a  measure  that  was  then  under  discussion  in  the 
House.  See  Heath's  letter  accompanying  the  petition,  and  Mason's  letters, 
following  chapter  vi.  , 


THE  FRENCH  PERH.  C9 

What  reason  can  be  assigned  to  make  it  probable  that  we  may 
rely  upon  an  exemption  from  this  general  deluge?  .  ,  .  Al- 
ready their  Geographers,  with  the  scale  and  dividers,  mark  out, 
on  the  Map  of  America,  her  future  circles,  departments  and  mu- 
nicipalities. Already  their  Buonapartes  and  Bernadottes,  are 
planning  future  triumphs;  herewith  the  army  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Ohio;  there  with  the  army  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware. 
—  Remember,  Sir,  things  much  less  probable  have  come  to 
pass. 

Extravagant  as  it  may  seem  at  this  distance,  Otis's 
prophecy  of  a  French  invasion  was  then  quite  within  the 
bounds  of  possibility.  France,  by  the  Treaty  of  Campo 
Formio,  in  October,  1797,  was  at  peace  with  all  the 
world  but  England.  Her  boundaries  were  extended  to 
the  Rhine,  the  Alps,  and  the  Pyrenees,  and  vassal  re- 
publics beyond  acknowledged  her  control.  By  March, 
1798,  the  American  press  had  already  announced  that  a 
huge  Arm^e  d'Angleterre  was  being  mobilized  at  Boulogne. 
Should  England  fall  before  the  all-conquering  Bonaparte, 
whose  turn  would  come  next.''  That  Otis's  apprehensions 
on  this  subject  were  genuine,  and  not  published  merely 
for  political  effect,  is  shown  by  a  letter  to  his  wife  of 
March  14, 1798: 

The  state  of  the  country  is  alarming  and  if  the  Southern 
States  do  not  change  their  representation,  or  that  Representa- 
tion change  their  measures,  that  part  of  the  country  will  be  lost, 
and  the  Eastern  States  will  be  compelled  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves. My  principal  hope  is  that  the  affairs  of  Europe  cannot 
long  remain  in  their  present  posture;  but  who  can  calculate  the 
event.  Should  Great  Britain  be  compelled  to  yield,  it  is  my 
opinion  that  our  liberties  and  independence  would  fall  a  sacri- 
fice. She  is  the  only  barrier  to  the  dreadful  deluge,  and  when 
that  is  broken  down,  it  will  be  time  for  us  to  prepare  to  be  good 
and  dutiful  subjects  to  the  French.  I  still  trust  that  the  Prov- 
idence which  has  protected  will  still  preserve  us  to  steer  thro 
the  siurrounding  difficulties,  without  being  overwhelmed. 


70  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Otis  alludes  to  the  Southern  States  in  this  letter  be- 
cause that  section  of  the  country,  which  would  have  been 
the  first  to  suffer  from  a  French  invasion,  was  repre- 
sented in  the  Fifth  Congress  almost  wholly  by  Republi- 
cans,^^ who  were  opposing  the  simplest  measures  of  de- 
fense against  France.  Since  the  beginning  of  our  diflScul- 
ties  with  France,  Jefferson's  party  had  taken  sides  against 
its  own  government.  So  consistent  had  been  this  attitude 
that  most  Federalists  suspected  the  existence  of  a  good 
understanding  between  the  French  and  American  Jacob- 
ins. Otis  remarked  in  debate,  on  March  2,  1798 : 

If  my  private  sentiments  are  required,  I  am  ready  to  profess 
my  sincere  persuasion  that  our  difficulties  with  France  are  not 
to  be  imputed  to  any  one  man,  but  to  a  desperate  and  mis- 
guided party,  existing  in  the  bosom  of  our  own  country,  who  are 
in  league  with  other  bad  citizens  resident  in  France,  and  with 
the  French  nation;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  regular  informa- 
tion and  instructions  are  conveyed  from  this  country  to  influ- 
ence the  measures  of  the  Directory,  and  impede  our  attempts  to 
negotiate  with  success. 

Otis  was  right.  The  difficulties  with  France  would 
have  been  of  short  duration,  had  not  the  blind  infatua- 
tion of  Jefferson's  party  for  France  encouraged  the  rulers 
of  that  country  to  use  them  as  instruments  to  keep  the 
United  States  in  tutelage.  Many  Democratic  leaders, 
moreover,  w^ere  not  unwilling  to  attain  power  through 
the  good  offices  of  France.  We  now  know  that  the  French 
ministers  in  Philadelphia  maintained  what  to-day  would 
be  called  a  lobby  in  Congress,  both  receiving  inside 
information  from  Jefferson  and  Republican  Congress- 
men, and  ordering  the  defeat  of  legislation  unfriendly  to 
French  interests.    Minister  Adet  took  an  active  part  in 

1'  Only  eight  of  the  thirty-eight  members  from  South  of  the  Potomac  were 
Federalists. 


THE  FRENCH  PERH.  71 

the  election  of  1796  in  behalf  of  Jefferson.  During  the 
previous  summer  he  made  a  tour  of  New  England,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  "raised  the  courage"  of  the  local 
Democrats,  assured  them  that  "France  would  never 
abandon  them,"  while  they  in  turn  urged  France  to 
continue  its  policy  of  commerce-destroying  in  order  to 
make  the  merchants  support  Jefferson.  He  even  pub- 
lished letters  in  the  Aurora,  giving  the  American  people 
to  understand  that  they  must  elect  Jefferson  or  prepare 
for  a  French  war.^^ 

When  the  Fifth  Congress  assembled,  then,  Otis  and 
his  Federalist  colleagues  were  face  to  face  with  a  mo- 
mentous problem.  The  French  government,  through 
attacks  on  our  commerce,  through  designs  on  our  terri- 
tory, through  intervention  in  our  politics,  was  aiming  to 
make  the  United  States  a  French  dependency.  Yet  the 
French  party  was  so  strong,  and  public  opinion  so  favor- 
ably inclined  toward  France,  that  the  task  of  resisting 
the  great  republic  seemed  well-nigh  hopeless. 

1*  1903  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  ii,  912-1081,  passim. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   CRISIS   OF    1798 

^T.  32 

We  left  the  Fifth  Congress  at  the  commencement  of 
its  first  session,  on  May  23,  1797,  with  the  FederaHst  side 
of  the  House  applauding  the  last  burst  of  rhetoric  in 
Otis's  maiden  speech.  After  another  week  of  debate,  the 
apologetic  amendment  offered  by  Nicholas  to  the  Answer 
of  the  House  was  defeated,  and  the  Answer  itself  de- 
livered to  President  Adams  with  all  due  ceremony. 
Congress  was  then  ready  to  begin  the  real  business  of  the 
session. 

As  Otis  probably  knew,  the  mighty  personages  in  his 
party  had  already  decided  on  a  programme,  in  the 
execution  of  which  he  was  expected  to  aid.  Alexander 
Hamilton,  who  generally  decided  these  matters  in  New 
York,  by  request  of  the  President's  cabinet,  thoroughly 
appreciated  the  delicacies  of  the  situation.  The  Republi- 
can party  and  press  were  noisy  in  their  defense  of  French 
spoliations  and  insults.  It  would,  therefore,  have  been 
folly  for  the  Federal  party,  with  its  slender  majority,  to 
rush  the  country  into  war.  Hamilton  decided  that  a 
second  attempt  should  be  made  to  settle  the  dispute 
peaceably,  by  sending  three  envoys  extraordinary  to 
Paris,  and  that  Congress  in  the  mean  time  should  put 
the  country  in  a  state  of  defense.^  If  the  Directory  were 
willing  to  negotiate  decently,  peace  would  be  preserved, 
and  the  Federal  party  would  receive  the  credit;  if  the 
new  mission  were  treated  as  Pinckney  had  been,  the 

*  Cf.  B.  C.  Steiner,  McEenry,  213-15,  with  John  Adams,  V/orks.  viii,  540. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  7S 

country  would  be  prepared  for  war,  and  the  French 
party  would  be  discredited. 

Congress  was  expected  to  act,  and  to  act  with  a  vigor 
of  tone  which  was  noticeably  lacking  in  its  predecessor. 
The  President  sounded  the  proper  note  in  his  opening 
message,  recommending  an  increase  of  the  army  and 
navy,  the  reorganization  of  the  militia,  and  permission 
for  the  merchants  to  arm  their  vessels.  All  went  well  at 
first,  and  the  Answer  of  the  House  to  the  President  was 
as  high-toned  as  the  most  ardent  Federalist  could  desire. 
But  it  was  found  impossible  to  carry  out  the  President's 
recommendations.  In  the  Senate  a  sufficient  majority 
existed,  but  in  the  House,  party  Federalists  and  party 
Republicans  were  almost  equal  in  numbers.  The  balance 
of  power  rested  with  a  group  of  moderate  Federalists,  led 
by  Dayton,  the  Speaker,  who  were  unwilling  to  take  even 
simple  measures  for  precaution. 

That  this  situation  occurred  was  no  fault  of  Otis.  It 
appears  from  a  letter  of  Stephen  Higginson  to  Timothy 
Pickering  that  the  Essex  Junto  held  Otis's  character  at 
little  value,  and  expected  him  to  become  one  of  Dayton's 
trimmers.^   They  were  entirely  mistaken  in  their  judg- 

^  "Mr.  Otis  who  succeeds  Ames  will  not  be  his  equal  in  any  view,  &  it  may 
be  very  uncertain  in  some  cases  how  he  will  act.  he  is  a  seeker  of  office,  his  am- 
bition has  no  bounds  and  whoever  can  offer  him  the  best  station  for  honour  and 
profit  will  have  him.  at  present  he  thinks,  I  believe,  that  his  best  chance  is 
from  the  Government,  and  whilst  he  conceives  his  interest  connected  with  and 
dependent  upon  Them,  he  will  be  on  your  side,  saving  such  variations  as  he 
may  think  essential  to  his  standing  so  fair  with  opposition,  as  to  keep  a  way 
open  to  join  them  whenever  he  shall  think  it  for  his  interest.  — 

"I  think  it  important  &  right  to  say  thus  much  to  you,  about  Mr.  O:  be- 
cause his  being  elected  by  the  friends  to  Government  may  otherwise  give  you 
too  much  confidence  in  him.  It  is  true  we  united  in  supporting  his  election, 
because  we  could  united  in  no  other,  and  believing  that  his  looking  to  Govern- 
ment for  promotion  would  keep  him  in  the  main  steady  and  right,  if  you  can 
keep  up  his  reputation,  you  may  derive  some  Aid  from  him  at  times,  as  he  has 
some  popular  talents;  but  he  is  not  a  man  of  much  application  or  a  very  strong 
mind,  of  course  can  never  be  a  good  Sheet  Anchor."  Boston,  May  11,  1797, 
1896  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  i,  798. 


74  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ment.  Otis,  who  was  tireless  in  debate,  proved  a  tower  of 
strength  to  his  party.  He  made  it  his  particular  duty  to 
answer  Gallatin's  able  speeches  —  "to  ferret  him  in  his 
retreats,  and  to  strip  his  designs  of  the  metaphj^sical 
garb  which  conceals  their  turpitude,"  as  the  Centinel  put 
the  case.  Far  from  being  a  trimmer,  he  stood  out  with 
his  young  Carolina  friends,  Harper  and  Rutledge,  in 
favor  of  war  preparations.^  He  did  all  in  his  power  to 
pass  measures  to  permit  the  arming  of  merchant  vessels 
in  their  defense,  to  increase  the  navy,  and  to  create  a 
provisional  army,  —  bills  which  were  defeated  by  the 
combined  votes  of  Jeffersonians  and  moderate  Federal- 
ists. The  net  result  of  the  session  was  a  loan  of  $800,000, 
a  beggarly  appropriation  for  fortifications,  a  slight  in- 
crease in  taxes,  and  an  act  for  the  completion  of  the  three 
frigates,  Constitution^  President,  and  United  States,  whose 
keels  had  been  laid  down  in  1794. 

The  failure  of  such  men  as  Jefferson,  Madison,  and 
Gallatin  to  see  that  their  policy  tended  inevitably  to 
make  their  country  a  French  dependency,  can  be  under- 
stood only  through  their  political  theories  and  their 
interests.  As  representatives  of  agricultural  districts 
they  were  indifferent  to  the  commercial  depredations  of 
France.  Jefferson,  indeed,  considered  the  carrying  trade 
an  illegitimate  business,  that  deserved  to  be  pillaged  by 
French  privateers.  The  childlike  confidence  of  his  party 
in  the  good  faith  of  France,  whose  policy,  they  yet  be- 

'  A  Philadelphia  letter  in  the  Chronicle  of  June  22, 1797,  announces  the  "mel- 
ancholy fate  of  poor  Smith,  Harper,  and  Otis."  —  "  About  ten  or  fifteen  days 
ago  these  gentlemen  were  seized  with  a  \-iolent  delirium  —  the  Gallophobia" 
and  became  "especially  outrageous  when  the  French  Republic  was  mentioned." 
They  raved  about  "magazines,  cannon,  bombs,  gallies,  frigates,  and  a  land 
tax.  .  .  .  They  are  all  now  a  little  more  composed,  owing  to  some  Buonaparte 
Pills  which  happily  arrived  in  the  ship  Chronicle."  The  "Buonaparte  Pills" 
meant  the  news  of  Napoleon's  pursuit  of  Archduke  Charles  across  the  Alps,  and 
the  peace  of  Leoben. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  75 

lieved,  was  still  actuated  by  the  anti-monarchical  prop- 
aganda of  1792,  made  them  willing  to  swallow  her 
arrogance  and  insults.  Above  all,  they  feared  that  the 
Federalists,  under  cover  of  a  French  war,  would  ally 
themselves  with  Great  Britain  to  crush  out  liberty  in 
both  France  and  America.  Republican  fears  of  an  Anglo- 
Federalist  despotism  were  quite  as  strong  as  Federalist 
fears  of  a  French  invasion.  Hence  we  find  Jefferson  and 
his  party  at  every  opportunity  seeking  to  limit  the  power 
of  the  Executive;  ^  and,  because  war  would  necessarily 
tend  to  increase  the  power  of  that  arm  of  the  government, 
they  feared  war  above  all  things.  Their  refusal  to  coop- 
erate with  the  government  in  strengthening  its  military 
and  naval  armament  is  thus  not  very  surprising,  espe- 
cially when  we  consider  that  the  opposition  party  in 
England  was  then  acting  in  precisely  the  same  manner, 
and  that  the  Federalists,  when  conditions  were  reversed 
ten  years  later,  acted  in  precisely  the  same  manner  in 
their  turn. 

The  same  state  of  affairs  continued  through  the  winter 
months  of  the  second  session  of  the  Fifth  Congress.  The 
President's  opening  address,  of  November  23,  1797,  re- 
newed his  recommendations  of  the  previous  session. 
Otis  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the 
House  reply,  and  announced  to  Mrs.  Otis,  on  November 
27: 

Inclosed  is  a  printed  copy  of  the  reported  answer  of  the 
house  to  the  President's  speech.  You  may  show  it  to  your 
friends,  but  the  Printers  must  not  have  it  untill  it  has  passed 
the  House.    I  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  and  drew  the 

*  They  opposed,  for  instance, the  passageof  general  appropriation  acts, which 
was  the  custom  under  Federalist  administrations,  and  of  appropriating  lump 
sums  for  forts,  or  army  and  navy,  or  foreign  intercourse,  to  be  used  at  the  Presi- 
dent's discretion.  The  practice  of  small  detailed  appropriations,  so  conducive 
to  log-rolling  and  jobbery,  sprang  up  in  Jefferson's  administration. 


76  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

answer;  and  tho  I  have  studiously  avoided  all  hard  expression, 
and  endeavored  to  make  it  as  palatable  as  possible,  I  expect 
that  some  of  the  pack  will  growl  and  oppose. 

Otis  proved  an  able  conciliator,  for,  as  he  later  wrote 
his  wife,  his  report  of  the  Answer  was  "adopted  unani- 
mously, with  only  the  change  of  a  single  word,  so  that  we 
were  in  luck  at  least,  to  save  a  fortnight's  squabbling." 
Much  time  was  doubtless  saved,  but  time  was  what  the 
Fifth  Congress  could  best  afford  to  squander.  Everj^thing 
hung  fire  awaiting  news  from  the  envoys  in  Paris.  By  the 
experience  of  the  previous  session,  the  Federalist  leaders 
had  learned  that  no  spirit  could  be  expected  from  Congress 
without  some  fresh  provocation  from  France,  and  con- 
sequently they  made  little  attempt  to  push  through  a 
scheme  of  defense.   Otis  wrote  his  wife  on  December  3: 

Congress  will  do  no  business  of  an  important  nature  untill 
some  intelligence  is  received  respecting  the  probable  issue  of 
the  negotiation  with  France.  What  this  will  be  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  determine.  Their  councils  are  not  governed  by  those 
settled  principles  which  lead  them  to  respect  the  rights  of  others 
or  even  to  consult  on  all  occasions  their  own  interest. 

I  cannot  however  think  they  will  be  so  infatuated  as  to  widen 
the  breach.  This  conduct  without  serving  them  would  probably 
alienate  forever  our  affections,  our  prejudices,  &  what  is  of  more 
consequence  our  trade  &  at  the  same  time  strengthen  their 
enemy  and  rival.  And  on  the  other  hand,  they  do  not  seem  to 
be  in  a  temper  to  confess  errors  or  repair  injuries.  Perhaps 
they  will  attempt  a  temporising  policy,  talk  plausibly  &  try 
to  amuse  without  adopting  any  definite  measures,  I  hope  how- 
ever there  is  yet  a  spirit  in  this  country  to  resent  and  to  baffle 
such  intrigues. 

The  same  feeling  of  suspense  is  shown  in  a  letter  to 
Otis,  dated  December  4,  1797,  from  Jonathan  Mason, 
Jr.,  of  Boston.  Since  Mason  was  then  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council,  and  one  of  the  leading  Massachusetts 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  77 

Federalists,  his  letter  may  be  taken,  in  a  certain  sense, 
as  Otis's  party  instructions : 

The  Presidents  speech  is  esteemed  for  its  principles;  The 
Friends  of  decent  cloathing,  take  exceptions  to  it.  We  do  not 
anticipate  much  from  the  present  Session  —  do  no  harm  &  you 
will  satisfy  your  constituents.  That  our  Commerce  is  to  remain 
a  prey  to  our  Republican  Friends  on  the  other  side,  seems  to  be 
the  general  sentiment,  &  the  probability  of  an  amicable  adjust- 
ment is  wholly  given  up.  You  individually  are  to  stand  at  your 
Post,  firm  —  I  mean  by  that  word  —  industrious,  constant, 
decisive,  complaisant,  always  to  be  found  by  your  Party,  & 
never  to  retreat.  These  points  with  talent  will  carry  you  to  your 
wishes,  &  insure  the  confidence  of  your  friends,  which  at  all 
events  must  be  inspired  &  maintain'd.  Shall   I  tell  you,  that  I 

wish  you  had  never  apologized  to  G ^  that  in  the  comment 

of  your  friends  upon  that  part  of  your  conduct,  it  has  been 
deemed  an  error,  &  that  it  was  giving  to  the  rascal  the  possibility 
of  construing  it  into  a  Triumph.  It  is  not  doubted  that  it  was 
handsomely  done,  &  not  from  any  improper  personal  motive, 
but  a  laudable  solicitude  to  effect  what  cannot  be  in  its  nature 
effected  —  a  successful  attempt  to  please  every  body.  I  mention 
this  that  in  future,  after  reflection  you  may  push  straight  for- 
ward. I  mention  it,  that  it  may  help  you,  for  I  conceive  it  an 
immense  advantage,  that  a  person  in  a  conspicuous  active,  re- 
sponsible situation,  should  know  the  opinions  of  his  own 
friends,  &  those  who  wish  him  well — as  such  you  will  accept  it. 

Amid  this  excitement  over  foreign  affairs,  one  act  of 
the  second  session,  which  marked  a  new  step  forward  in 
humanity,  passed  unnoticed.  This  was  a  law  abolishing 
imprisonment  for  debts  to  the  federal  government.  Otis 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  reported  the  bill, 
and  acted  as  its  sponsor  before  the  House.  ^ 

The  dull  march  of  routine  business  in  the  winter  months 
was  not,  however,  without  its  amusing  incidents.      In 

^  Gallatin,  —  a  reference  to  Otis's  apologj'  for  his  "Second  Shirt"  speech. 
^  Annals  of  Fifth  Congress,  3734.    Otis's  report  in  favor  of  the  bill,  is  in 
Ibid.,  1796. 


78  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

January,  1798,  occurred  the  famous  Lyon-Griswold  af- 
fair. Matthew  Lyon  of  Vermont,  an  ill-bred  little  printer 
of  Irish  birth,  was  of  all  the  "Jacobins"  in  Congress  the 
most  obnoxious  to  Federalists.^  During  the  Revolution, 
Lyon  had  been  cashiered  —  unjustly,  it  seems  —  for 
cowardice,  and  punished  by  being  compelled  to  wear  a 
wooden  sword  as  a  sign  of  disgrace.  On  January  30,  1798, 
before  the  session  for  the  day  commenced,  Lyon,  in  con- 
versation with  some  other  member,  began  to  boast  of  the 
political  revolution  he  would  create  in  Connecticut,  could 
he  bring  his  printing  press  thither.  Roger  Griswold  of 
Connecticut  inquired  sarcastically  whether  he  would 
also  bring  his  wooden  sword  with  him.  Lyon  replied  by 
spitting  full  in  Griswold's  face.  The  Federalists  then 
demanded  Lyon's  expulsion  from  the  House  as  the  only 
proper  punishment  for  so  flagrant  a  breach  of  de- 
corum, but  he  was  stoutly  defended  by  his  party  on  the 
pretext  that  the  spitting  took  place  before  the  House  was 
called  to  order.  In  the  debate  that  followed,  Otis  made  a 
long  speech  in  favor  of  ex-pulsion,  remarking  that  "He 
would  challenge  anyone  to  show  so  shameful  an  act  of  as- 
sault and  battery  committed  without  provocation  at  any 
former  period,  or  in  any  country,  ...  it  would  not  be 
suffered  in  a  brothel  or  in  a  den  of  robbers!"  To  his  wife 
he  wrote:  "Was  anything  so  infamous  ever  heard  of  be- 
fore.'^ Yet  I  expect  the  whole  party  will  stand  by  to  pro- 
tect him,  &  in  that  event  we  cannot  expel  him;  a  concur- 
rence of  two  thirds  being  necessary  for  this  purpose." 
Such  was  the  case;  the  vote  was  strictly  on  party  lines, 

^  At  the  beginning  of  each  session,  Lyon  asked  to  be  excused  from  waiting 
on  the  President  with  the  rest  of  the  House  to  present  the  Answer,  because  he 
found  that  the  ceremony  smacked  of  royalty.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  "Mr. 
Otis  said,  as  the  Lyon  appeared  to  be  in  a  savage  mood,  he  would  recommend 
him  to  be  locked  up  while  the  House  proceeded  to  the  President."  J.  F.  Mc- 
Laughlin, Matthew  Lyon,  224. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  79 

52  to  44,  an  insufficient  majority.  According  to  one  of 
Otis's  letters,  the  Republicans*  motive  in  thus  shielding 
Lyon,  was  "merely  to  avail  themselves  of  his  vote  here- 
after, while  they  acknowledge  that  he  was  deserving  of 
expulsion.  This  among  other  traits  serves  to  shew  the 
character  of  the  party  and  their  disregard  of  all  principle 
&  decency,  but  as  they  have  rope  enough  it  is  to  be  hoped 
they  will  hang  themselves." 

Expulsion  having  failed,  Mr.  Griswold  took  the  law  into 
his  own  hands,  and  at  the  next  appearance  of  Lyon  in 
the  Hall  of  Representatives,  he  attacked  him  with  a  stout 
club.  Lyon  grasped  the  Congressional  fire-tongs  to  defend 
himself,  and  the  two  men  rolled  over  and  over  upon  the 
floor,  striking  at  each  other,  until  some  other  members 
pulled  them  apart  by  the  legs.  The  House  was  then 
called  to  order,  but,  as  the  combatants  renewed  their 
scuffling  at  intervals  during  the  session,  it  finally  ad- 
journed on  Otis's  motion. 

By  this  affair,  Griswold  put  himself  on  a  level  with 
Lyon.  The  Federalists  apparently  held  a  caucus  to  con- 
sider the  matter,^  and  most  of  them,  including  Otis,  voted 
against  a  motion  to  expel  and  to  censure  both  combatants, 
since  they  felt  that  Griswold's  retaliation  was  justified. 
The  Federalists  must  therefore  share  with  their  opponents 
the  responsibility  for  leaving  unpunished  the  first  of  these 
disorderly  affairs  in  Congress,  which  subsequently  be- 
came far  too  frequent. 

The  Lyon-Griswold  fracas  was  a  somewhat  extreme 
expression  of  the  temper  of  this  Congress.  While  awaiting 
news  from  France,  members  of  the  two  parties  gave  vent 
to  their  feelings  in  long  debates  on  minor  topics,  filled  with 

'  "The  unfortunate  controversy  between  Griswold  and  Lyon  has  obliged  me 
to  attend  a  meeting  of  some  members  this  evening."  Otis  to  Mrs.  Otis,  Febru- 
ary 18,  1798.  I  take  this  to  be  an  allusion  to  the  congressional  caucus. 


80  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

recriminations  and  bitter  personal  attacks.  Giles  of  Vir- 
ginia on  one  occasion  accused  the  Federalists  of  a  deter- 
mination to  make  war  on  France  at  all  costs.  AVhen  Otis 
stigmatized  these  remarks  as  "bold,  ungraceful,  and  dis- 
graceful," Giles  replied  that  "neither  Mr,  Otis,  nor  any 
other  gentleman,  durst  make  that  assertion  in  any  other 
place."  A  rumor,  which  gave  much  anxiety  to  Otis's  fam- 
ily and  friends,  reported  that  a  duel  between  Otis  and 
Giles,  resulting  in  the  former's  death,  had  followed  this 
exchange  of  pleasantries;  but,  since  the  so-called  code  of 
honor  was  no  part  of  Otis's  New  England  upbringing, 
the  affair  went  no  further  than  words. 

Finally,  on  March  4, 1798,  the  long-expected  dispatches 
from  the  three  envoys  in  Paris  arrived.  The  bulk  of  the 
papers  being  in  cipher,  the  President  communicated  to 
Congress  but  the  one  dispatch  in  which  the  cipher  was  not 
used.  This  document,  dated  at  Paris,  January  8,  1798, 
announced  that  no  hope  existed  of  the  envoys  being  offi- 
cially received  by  the  Directory,  and  that  a  new  decree, 
subjecting  to  capture  any  neutral  vessel  carrying  in  whole 
or  in  part  British  goods,  had  passed  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred.  The  Federalists  now  felt  that  the  time  had 
come  for  a  fresh  attempt  to  put  the  country  in  a  state  of 
defense.  Only  with  great  difficulty,  however,  were  they 
able  to  pass  such  an  essential  measure  as  the  equipping  of 
the  Constitution,  President,  and  United  States.  That  pub- 
lic spirit  had  been  gradually  evaporating  during  the  long 
period  —  almost  a  year  now  —  since  Pinckney's  dismis- 
sal and  the  beginning  of  the  spoliations,  is  clear  from  Otis's 
letter  of  March  8:  "There  seems  to  be  a  great  want  of 
public  spirit  among  the  people,  and  I  should  doubt  if  there 
be  a  majority  in  our  own  house  to  adopt  those  vigorous 
and  decisive  measures  which  to  me  appear  necessary." 

On  March  19,  the  President  announced  that,  after  an 


i 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  81 

examination  and  mature  consideration  of  the  dispatches, 
he  could  perceive  no  ground  to  expect  the  objects  of  the 
mission  could  be  "accomplished  on  terms  compatible 
with  the  safety,  honor,  or  the  essential  interests  of  the  na- 
tion." He  therefore  renewed  a  second  time  his  recommen- 
dation to  defend  our  coasts  and  commerce,  and  to  act 
with  "zeal,  vigour,  and  concert,  in  defence  of  the  national 
rights."  If  the  Federalists  expected,  however,  that  this 
definite  announcement  of  the  Directory's  refusal  to  ne- 
gotiate would  shake  the  Franco-Jeffersonian  alliance, 
they  were  entirely  mistaken.  In  the  House  debates  that 
followed  the  President's  communication,  the  adminis- 
tration was  accused  of  insincerity,  deception,  and  a  de- 
sire to  dragonnade  the  country  into  war  with  France  and 
a  British  alliance.  The  Republican  press  echoed  these 
sentiments.  In  this  dangerous  crisis,  Jefferson  wished  his 
followers  to  bring  about  an  adjournment  of  Congress,  in 
order  to  gain  time  to  allow  the  French  invasion  of  Eng- 
land —  an  event  which  he  ardently  desired  —  "to  have 
its  effect  here  as  well  as  there."  ^ 

This  attitude  placed  the  Federalists  in  an  awkward 
dilemma.  Otis,  for  instance,  who  had  a  fairly  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  dispatches  on  March  22,  knew  that  their 
publication  would  silence  and  discredit  the  French  party; 
but  such  a  course,  he  perceived,  might  not  only  endanger 
the  lives  of  our  envoys  in  Paris,  but  prove  a  bar  to  future 
diplomatic  negotiations.^''  Meanwhile  the  opposition  was 
calling  for  publication,  foolishly  confident  that  it  would 
expose  a  Federalist  bluff.  For  a  time  the  Federalists  re- 
sisted, but  they  found  the  temptation  to  disclose  the  in- 
formation too  strong.  "We  wish  much  for  the  papers," 
wrote  Jonathan  Mason  from  Boston.     "The  Jacobins 

»  Jefferson,  Works,  TV,  222. 
^0  See  his  letter  of  March  22  to  Jonathan  Mason,  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


82  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

want  them.  And  in  the  name  of  God  let  them  be  gratified; 
it  is  not  the  first  time  they  have  wished  for  the  means  of 
their  destruction."  On  April  2,  Harper  introduced  a  reso- 
lution asking  for  the  papers,  and  on  the  following  day  the 
President  sent  down  to  the  House  the  famous  "X.  Y.  Z. 
dispatches." 

When  a  few  days  later  the  entire  correspondence  was 
published,  the  people  were  at  last  given  a  first-hand  view 
of  the  methods  of  French  diplomacy.  None  of  the  Ameri- 
can grievances  had  been  redressed;  the  French  spoliations 
continued  as  before;  and  after  a  three  months'  residence  in 
Paris,  the  three  envoys  were  still  refused  an  oflicial  recep- 
tion by  the  Directory.  Instead,  they  had  been  persistently 
informed  by  go-betweens  (whose  names,  in  the  published 
dispatches,  were  discreetly  represented  by  the  letters 
X,  Y,  and  Z)  and  by  Talleyrand  himself,  that  as  an 
indispensable  preliminary  to  negotiation  the  American 
envoys  must  make  a  loan  of  $250,000  to  the  French  gov- 
ernment, pay  over  a  similar  sum  as  a  douceur  for  the 
Directors'  pockets,  and  apologize  for  certain  "unfriendly  " 
expressions  in  the  President's  first  message  to  the  Fifth 
Congress.  America  was  threatened  with  the  fate  of  Ven- 
ice, and  the  envoys  assured  that  the  Directory  was  pos- 
sessed of  the  means,  "through  the  French  party  in  Amer- 
ica," of  throwing  the  blame  of  the  rupture  on  the  Feder- 
alists. No  set  of  documents  could  have  served  better  to 
open  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the  methods  and  aims  of 
French  policy,  and  to  wean  away  their  affections  from  the 
French  defenders  and  apologists.  Y^et  the  X.  Y.  Z.  dis- 
patches told  nothing  of  the  real  danger  that  then  threat- 
ened the  United  States  from  France.  Talleyrand  and  the 
Directory  were  not  aiming  to  drive  the  United  States  into 
war,  as  the  Federalists  supposed,  for  they  were  almost 
entirely  dependent  on  the  United  States  for  provisioning 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  83 

their  colonies.  They  were  simply  temporizing,  while  they 
carried  on  negotiations  at  Madrid  for  the  cession  of  Louis- 
iana, the  possession  of  which  would  attain  the  objects  of 
the  Republic's  American  policy. 

The  undiplomatic  methods  by  which  Talleyrand  played 
his  game  with  Pinckney  and  his  colleagues,  is  explained 
by  the  situation  of  the  French  government,  when  the 
three  American  envoys  presented  their  claims.  Barras  and 
the  terrible  triumvirate,  supreme  over  their  domestic  op- 
ponents by  the  coup  d'etat  of  the  18  Fructidor,^^  secure  in 
their  grip  on  Italy  and  the  Rhine  by  the  Treaty  of  Campo 
Formio,  were  at  that  time  on  a  pinnacle  of  power  and  ar- 
rogance. They  had  severed  the  peace  negotiations  then 
pending  with  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  and  expelled  the 
Portuguese  minister  from  France.  Coups  d'etat  were  being 
hatched  to  "  f ructidoriser "  the  neighboring  republics.  ^^ 
Talleyrand's  insolent  demand  for  bribes  and  tribute  from 
the  American  envoys  was  due  to  this  overweening  arro- 
gance of  his  government,  and  to  its  appetite  for  plunder. 
Accustomed  to  sell  its  friendship  to  the  smaller  states  of 
Europe,  it  made  the  mistake  of  applying  these  methods 
to  a  nation  out  of  the  reach  of  French  armies. 

The  X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches,  published  and  spread  broad- 
cast through  newspapers  and  pamphlets,  produced  a  re- 
volution in  American  public  opinion.  As  the  news  spread 
from  Philadelphia,  a  spontaneous  clamor  of  patriotism 

"  By  the  cowp  d'Slat  of  the  18  Fructidor,  An.  V  (September  4,  1797),  the 
"Amis  de  la  Paix,"  who  wished  to  reverse  the  policy  of  France  toward  neutral 
nations  and  make  peace  with  England,  were  epvrSs  from  all  branches  of  the  gov- 
ernment by  the  triumvirate  of  militant  Directors,  Barras,  Rewbell,  and  La 
Revelliere-Lepeaux.  This  event  really  ended  any  chance  of  the  American 
mission  procuring  justice  from  France. 

^2  A.  Sorel,  L'Europe  et  la  Revolution  Frangaise,  v,  225-30,  294-96.  Rufus 
King  wrote  from  London  {King,  ii,  294)  that  the  Directory  hoped  to  pull  off 
an  18  Fructidor  against  the  Federalists.  The  Portuguese  incident  was  well 
known  to  the  American  government;  and  as  Portugal  had  purchased  her  treaty, 
the  lesson  was  obvious.  Hamilton,  Works,  vi,  275;  Steiner,  McHenry,  285,  n. 


84  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

burst  forth  in  every  part  of  the  country.  "MilHons  for 
defense,  but  not  one  cent  for  tribute! "  became  the  popu- 
lar cry;  "Hail  Columbia,"  and  "Adams  and  Liberty," 
the  national  anthems.  The  Federal  party  to  a  man,  and 
thousands  among  the  former  followers  of  Jefferson,  has- 
tened to  sign  memorials  and  addresses  tendering  the  gov- 
ernment their  confidence.  ^^  Volunteer  companies  were 
formed;  flags  embroidered  and  presented;  Talleyrand 
hung  in  effigy;  war  vessels  purchased  or  built  by  popular 
subscription.  It  was  one  of  the  few  occasions  between 
1792  and  the  War  of  1812  when  a  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  showed  a  "manly  sense  of  national  honor,  dig- 
nity, and  independence."  ^^  Yet  the  enthusiasm  was  not 
universal.  Though  deserted  by  the  voters,  though  dis- 
mayed and  disheartened,  the  Republican  leaders  stuck  to 
their  guns.  With  a  consistency  that  would  be  admirable 
but  for  its  anti-patriotism,  they  continued  to  preach  sub- 
mission to  all-powerful  France,  our  "  magnanimous  ally"; 
they  even  made  desperate  efforts  to  prove  that  Messrs. 
X.,  Y.,  and  Z.  were  a  set  of  unauthorized  swindlers,  hav- 
ing no  connection  with  the  French  government;  and  they 
warned  the  people  that  Federalist  policy  spelt  British  alli- 
ance and  monarchy. ^^  But  Jefferson  was  deposed  from 
his  pedestal,  Adams  and  Pinckney  and  Marshall  were  the 
heroes  of  the  day.    For  the  first  and  last  time  in  its  his- 

"  A  delightful  example  of  the  effect  of  the  X.  Y.  Z.  letters  is  given  in  a  letter 
from  the  Rev.  John  Murray  of  Boston  to  John  Adams,  June  19, 1798:  "Thanks 
be  to  God,  that  in  the  greatness  of  his  goodness  he  has  made  our  enemies  instru- 
mental in  uniting  the  good  people  of  these  states,  more  than  ever  I  expected  to 
have  seen  them  in  my  day.  For  a  long  season  my  heart  was  pained,  on  not 
being  able  to  count  in  my  Congregation  (as  large  as  any  in  this  Town)  as  many 
Federalists  as  states  in  the  Union  —  now,  thanks  be  to  God,  and  our  good  Ally, 
I  find  converts  multiplying  every  day  —  it  is  the  Lord's  doings  and  it  is  mar- 
vellous in  our  eyes."    Adams  MSS. 

"  Quoted  from  the  President's  Message  of  December  8,  1798. 

1'  Madison,  Works,  ii,  134;  Jefferson,  Works,  iv,  275;  Tucker,  Jefferson, 
II,  43. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  85 

tory  the  Federal  party  found  itself  popular.  The  people 
felt  with  justice  that  the  administration  had  pursued  the 
policy  of  conciliation  to  the  utmost  limit  permissible  for  a 
nation  that  desired  to  be  called  free  and  independent;  that 
defense  by  force  of  arms  was  necessary  to  preserve  the 
national  honor  and  integrity. 

By  his  conduct  during  this  period  Otis  had  won  the 
approbation  of  the  wise  men  of  his  party.  Fisher  Ames 
wrote  him,  on  April  23,  1798: 

Your  speech  was  good,  but  your  letter  to  General  H[eath] 
better  than  good;  it  is  excellent  —  useful  to  the  public,  reput- 
able to  you;  and  the  strokes  ad  captandiim  are  so  blended  with 
irony,  that  Roxbury  vanity  must  be  flattered  and  humbled  at 
the  same  time.  I  write  in  confidence,  and  I  should  despise  the 
thought  of  flattery.  Rely  on  it,  your  friends  exult  on  the  peru- 
sal of  the  letter.  You  must  not  talk  of  fees,  nor  of  being  weary 
of  well  doing.  The  enlistment  is  such,  you  cannot  return  to 
private  life  yet,  without  desertion.  I  hope  and  trust  your  task 
will  be  in  future  less  irksome,  and  more  will  help  you.  Folly 
has  nearly  burnt  out  its  fuel,  I  mean  the  French  passion;  and 
the  zeal  of  good  men  must  be  warmer  and  more  active  than  it 
has  been  or  we  sink.  It  is  too  late  to  preach  peace,  and  to  say 
we  do  not  think  of  war;  a  defensive  war  must  be  waged,  whether 
it  is  formally  proclaimed  or  not.  That,  or  submission,  is  before 
us.i^ 

Although  not  j'^et  thirty-three  years  old,  Otis  had  risen 
to  the  position  of  fiirst  lieutenant  to  Harper's  captaincy  of 
the  House  majority.  So  far  his  work  had  been  uphill;  it 
was  now  crowned  with  popular  sanction  and  confidence. 
On  Otis,  then,  as  much  as  on  any  member  of  the  Federal 
party,  rested  the  responsibility  of  retaining  this  confi- 
dence, by  a  policy  at  once  firm  and  spirited,  yet  respecting 
the  prejudices  of  a  people  trained  to  fear  strong  govern- 
ment. 

"  Ames,  Works,  i,  228. 


86  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

LETTERS,  1797-98 

JONATHAN  MASON,   JR.,   TO   OTIS 

Boston  Deer  24,  1797 
My  dear  Sir.  — 

I  am  to  beg  your  attention,  by  the  request  of  the  Directors 
of  our  board,  to  a  grant  which  they  have  asked  for,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  building  a  Bank  house  in  Boston,  &  which  is  to  be  agi- 
tated at  the  Stockholders  Meeting  on  Wednesday  next.^^  You 
know  the  inconvenience  of  the  one  at  present  used  for  that 
purpose,  It  is  indecent,  out  of  repair,  filthy  &  disreputable. 
The  Vaults  are  too  small,  the  sun  never  enters  any  part  of  it, 
it  is  cold,  damp,  &  in  short  in  every  view  impossible  longer  to 
carry  on  and  transact  the  business  there.  The  Transactions  of 
the  Bank,  are  daily  increasing.  The  other  states  have  been 
indulged  in  similar  requests,  &  to  a  much  larger  amount. 

We  hold  in  this  state  permanently,  a  full  proportion  of  the 
stock  of  the  Bank  —  &  the  seat  of  Government  out  of  view 
have  the  same  rights  to  accomodation,  as  they  have  at  Phila- 
delphia. 

One  other  reason,  I  may  mention  to  you  —  a  handsome  build- 
ing, will  help  your  Town  &  its  Mechanicks.  Eno'  upon  that 
Subject.  .  .  . 

We  do  not  like  appearances  at  Philadelphia,  tho  you  have 
not  yet  been  bro't  to  open  Combat  French  interest  is  not  drove 
from  your  house,  by  French  cruelty,  perfidy,  &  injury.  On  the 
contrary  it  seems  to  be  ingrafted  into  the  blood  of  you.  We 
wish  much  for  important  news  from  France,  &  that  their  Con- 
duct to  this  Country  may  be  unequivocal,  that  the  strength 
of  its  Government  may  be  fairly  tried  the  present  session.  If 
we  are  to  Fight  them  at  last,  we  had  better  know  it  now  —  & 
there  seems  to  be  a  universal  Wish,  that  our  Commissioners 
either  may  be  sincerely  received,  respected  &  satisfyed,  or 
treated  in  such  manner,  as  will  preclude  even  Comment.  .  .  . 

1^  Otis  and  Mason  were  both  directors  of  the  Boston  Branch  of  the  United 
States  Bank. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  87 

JONATHAN  MASON,   JR.,   TO   OTIS 

Boston  Febry  19,  1798 


People  in  general  fear  the  issue  of  Lyon's  indecency,  that  your 
House  have  made  a  political  question  of  it,  &  that  your  Skulls 
will  be  safe,  in  exact  proportion  to  the  strength  of  your  party. 
You  have  the  honor  of  outdoing  the  National  Convention,  & 
are  in  a  fair  way  of  becoming  an  assembly  of  gladiators.  What 
with  Randolph,  Blount,  Monroe,  Lyon  &  such  rascals,  in  a  few 
Years,  I  think  we  shall  need  great  effrontery  to  defend  the 
American  Character.  Griswold  I  think  has  a  difficult  task. 
The  world  say  he  must  beat  him  either  in  or  out  of  the  House. 
One  or  the  other  for  his  own  sake  —  but  if  you  fail  of  the  ques- 
tion upon  the  expulsion,  in  the  House,  for  yours  —  I  mean  your 
party  —  for  you  must  have  a  champion.  In  any  event  I  feel 
grieved  that  the  saliva  of  an  Irishman  should  be  left  upon  the 
face  of  an  American  &  He,  a  New  Englandman.  My  good 
Father  Powell  says,  that  if  Griswold  had  been  in  the  presence 
of  the  great  God  himself,  he  ought  to  have  taken  his  revenge 
upon  the  spot,  &  beat  his  brains  out.  He  ridicules  the  idea  of 
Griswold's  bravery.   I  pray  Heaven  he  may  be  disappointed. 

Things  seem  at  such  a  crisis.  Good  men  differ  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  arming. ^^  They  think  that  Individuals  may  take  undue 
advantages  of  the  Power  &  that  Foreigners  will  abuse  it  under 
our  Flag.  Wm  Gray  Jr  seems  to  be  much  against  it.  The  de- 
predations have  already  been  great,  &  it  is  his  opinion  that  some 
decided  step  respecting  this  Country  cannot  be  at  a  great  dis- 
tance —  that  we  had  better  be  patient  &  not  irritate.  That  a  re- 
volution in  their  councils  may  essentially  alter  their  conduct, 
&  that  should  the  Power  be  granted,  the  trade  will  not  pay  the 
expense,  &  of  course  very  few  would  take  advantage  of  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  has  very  respectable  advocates  with  us,  & 
they  say,  that  it  will  protect  our  citizens  &  their  property,  &  will 
not  alter  the  Conduct  of  France  towards  this  Country,  provided 
she  is  disposed  for  Peace  —  &  if  she  is  not,  the  refraining  from 

*'  That  is,  permitting  merchant  vessels  to  arm  in  their  own  defense  —  the 
question  that  brought  out  Otis's  Letter  to  General  Heath. 


88  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

arming  will  be  of  no  consequence.  For  my  own  part,  I  wish  that 
Prudence  &  reflection  &  Judgement  may  precede  every  step 
taken  &  after  that,  these  taken,  may  be  pursued  with  energy.  I 
feel  willing  to  bear  for  a  time,  but  I  think  we  ought  not  to  be 
bore  down,  with  insult,  &  that  it  behoves  us,  if  we  suffer  our- 
selves to  be  spit  upon,  as  Griswold  has,  to  show  the  world  that 
if  we  are  cool,  we  are  decidedly  brave  —  at  the  expence  of  our 
existence  as  a  nation.  .  .  . 

God  bless  you.  I  wish  you  well  &  I  beg  that  in  no  event,  you 
will  differ  from  your  party,  but  stand  by  them. 

Yrs  sincerely 

J  Mason  Jb 


GENERAL   WILLIAM   HEATH   TO   OTIS^^ 

Roxbury  March  21st  1798 

Sir 

The  People  in  this  quarter  exceedingly  alarmed  at  a  report 
that  Congress  were  about  granting  liberty  to  the  merchants 
to  arm  their  private  vessels  by  authority.  The  Inhabitants  of 
this  Town  on  a  very  short  notice  assembled  on  Yesterday  and 
in  an  Uncommon  full  meeting,  —  never  did  I  for  the  forty  years 
that  I  have  been  on  the  stage  of  action,  see  a  meeting  more  at- 
tentively and  solemnly  engaged,  or  more  Unanimous.  The  ques- 
tion was  whether  Congress  should  be  petitioned  not  to  grant 
leave  for  private  vessels  to  arm.  On  the  question  being  put, 
there  were  but /owr  Gentlemen  who  voted  in  the  negative,  and 
these  immediately  declared,  that  they  were  as  much  against 
arming  as  those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  on  the  question  — 
but  that  for  themselves  they  wished  to  rest  the  issue  with  Con- 
gress. —  so  that  it  may  be  fairly  said  that  every  person  who 
voted  was  in  Sentiment,  as  to  the  measure  itself. 

The  Town  appointed  a  Committee  to  draught  sign  and  for- 
ward a  Petition  to  Congress  expressive  of  their  sentiments  as 
stated  in  their  vote.  The  Committee  therefore  that  they  might 
not  mistake  or  mistate  the  sense  of  the  Town  have  couched  the 
Petition  —  nearly  in  a  transcript  of  the  vote.  The  Committee 
do  themselves  the  honor  of  addressing  the  Petition  to  your  care 

''  This  letter,  and  the  petition  therein  mentioned,  were  the  occasion  of  Otis's 
published  Letter  to  General  Heath. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  89 

as  the  immediate  Representative  of  our  District,  and  request  that 
you  will  embrace  the  earliest  moment  to  present  it  to  Congress, 
whether  a  resolution  on  the  question,  has  passed,  or  not,  —  and 
that  you  will  give  it  such  support  as  it  may  appear  to  deserve. 
It  is  also  requested  that  you  would  communicate  the  subject  to 
all  the  other  Gentlemen  representing  this  Commonwealth.  But 
the  Committee  request  that  there  may  be  no  delay  in  present- 
ing the  Petition.  ^Yhat  other  towns  may  say,  or  do,  I  cannot 
tell,  one  thing  is  certain  there  never  was  a  time  in  which  the 
people  in  general  appeared  to  be  more  opposed  to  war  with  any 
nation  under  Heaven,  than  is  expressed  at  this  time  —  and 
they  look  upon  arming  of  private  vessels  but  little  short  of  a 
declaration  of  it.  The  Gentlemen  in  trade,  or  a  part  of  them, 
may  be  in  favor  of  arming.  Heaven  grant  that  those  who  steer 
the  public  Barke,  may  rim  for  the  Haven  of  Honor,  peace,  pros- 
perity and  happiness  of  our  own  Country. 


OTIS   TO   JONATHAN  MASON,   JR.^" 

Philadelphia,  March  22  [17981 

After  reading  the  President's  message  you  will  naturally 
conclude  that  we  are  forthwith  occupied  in  concerns  of  the  first 
magnitude.  The  case,  however,  is  otherwise.  —  The  opposition 
leaders  pretend  that  they  cannot  act  without  knowing  the  con- 
tents of  the  late  dispatches;  and  this  excuse  which  is  made  only 
for  want  of  another,  is  countenanced  by  a  seeming  apathy  of  the 
friends  of  the  Government,  arising  merely  from  the  scruples  of 
a  few  indi\'iduals,  without  whose  aid  we  cannot  act;  and  who 
are  also  chagrined  by  the  suppression  of  the  dispatches.  This 
state  of  things  cannot  continue  long.  A  disclosure  of  the  late 
information  received  by  The  Executive  would  probably  elec- 
trise the  whole  American  people,  or  demonstrate  such  an  utter 
prostration  of  national  spirit  &  honor  as  would  shew  all  hopes  of 
resistance  to  be  vain.  But  if  propriety  should  still  forbid  the 
communication,  it  is  morally  certain  that  facts  of  a  nature  not 
to  be  concealed,  and  indicative  of  a  settled  purpose  in  the 
French  Government  to  humble  and  to  ruin  us,  will  follow  in 

*°  From  the  Columbian  Centinel  of  March  31.  This  is  the  extract  referred  to 
in  Mason's  letter  of  March  SO.  It  is  beaded:  "Highly  Important,  And  from  a 
Source  of  the  First  Respectability." 


90  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

rapid  succession,  and  produce  the  same  effect  that  would  follow 
upon  i)ublishing  the  dispatches. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  all  who  reflect,  that  the  Executive 
would  gladly  impart  his  knowledge  of  any  facts  that  would  so 
fully  justify  his  conduct,  confirm  the  friends  and  confound  the 
adversaries  of  the  Government,  as  it  is  presumed  these  dis- 
patches would  do.  He  has  accordingly  at  one  period  hesitated 
on  this  subject,  as  I  am  informed,  though  not  officially.  —  Two 
principles  have  hitherto  decided  him  in  favor  of  witholding  them : 
A  regard  to  the  personal  safety  of  the  Commissioners,  and  an 
apprehension  of  the  effect  of  a  disclosure  upon  our  future  dip- 
lomatic intercourse.  —  The  dispatches  would  probably  unfold 
such  a  scene  of  corruption  among  the  present  men  in  power, 
discord  among  the  Directory,  and  such  projects  for  our  humilia- 
tion, as  would  excite  indignation  without  bounds  against  the 
Commissioners,  if  they  should  be  at  Paris  ;  and  obstruct  those 
sources  of  iji formation  on  which  they  and  our  future  ministers 
to  all  countries  must  occasionally  depend.  These  are  very 
serious  considerations.  It  is  however  very  probable  that  they 
will  be  surmounted,  so  far,  at  least  as  relates  to  a  part  of  these 
dispatches  if  a  resolution  should  prevail,  to  call  for  informa- 
tion. Such  a  motion  is  to  be  expected,  and  many  of  our  friends 
think  it  best  merely  to  vote  against  it  without  much  debate, 
and  permit  it  to  be  carried,  by  means  of  a  few  of  the  federal 
men  who  think  well  of  the  measure.  —  The  responsibility  for 
any  disadvantage  resulting  from  the  disclosure  of  the  papers, 
will  fall  on  the  right  spot,  and  the  advantage  arising  from  the 
impression  would  be  common  to  us  all. 

JOHN  GARDNER  ^^   TO   OTIS 

Boston  March  24  1798 

At  Roxbury  &  Milton  there  have  been  town  meetings 
against  arming  the  merchantmen,  and  the  votes  proposed  by  the 
Demo's  were  carried  by  large  majorities.  Our  enlightened 
Miltonians  were  quite  violent  upon  the  occasion.  I  found  it 
necessary  to  spout,  (for  the  first  time  in  my  life)  against  the 

*'  This  is  probably  John  Gardner  (1770-1825),  son  of  Dr.  Samuel  Gardner 
of  Milton. 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  91 

policy  of  the  people's  interfering  with  those  measures  of  defence, 
wh.  government  may  find  it  necessary  to  adopt.  But  it  was 
without  effect.  Even  Mr.  Robbins  ^^  who  has  always  been  so 
popular  with  them,  was  treated  with  no  kind  of  respect  or  at- 
tention. He  made  a  pretty  good  speech,  and  certainly  full  mode- 
rate enough  —  but  was  frequently  interrupted  and  told  he  had 
better  hold  his  tongue  if  he  could  not  talk  to  the  purpose! 

I  see  by  the  papers  that  you  have  had  a  dispute  with  Giles,  & 
think  you  were  very  properly  severe  upon  him.  I  hope  you  will 
not  be  obliged  personally  to  expose  yourself,  but  am  convinced 
you  would  sooner  do  this,  than  give  way  to  him.  My  opinion  of 
this  Giles  is  that  he  is  a  Brag  &  a  Bully,  &  (though  I  admit  he 
might  be  brought  to  fight)  that  he  is  not  fonder  of  it  than  other 
people.  If  he  crowds  you,  it  will  be  in  consequence  of  his  know- 
ledge of  your  happy  domestic  situation,  and  your  coming  from 
a  part  of  the  country  where  duelling  is  not  in  vogue.  .  .  . 


JONATHAN  MASON,   JR.,    TO   OTIS 

Boston  March  26  1798 
My  dear  Sir. 

.  .  .  We  have  already  had  two  Town  meetings  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  arming  with  the  Roxbury  General  ^^  at  the  head  of  them, 
&  God  knows  whether  we  shall  not  have  two  &  twenty  —  as  the 
fire  seems  to  spread  &  the  wind  is  tolerably  high.  I  have  doubts 
whether  it  will  be  tryed  in  Boston.  We  are  industriously  spread- 
ing the  news  of  a  postponement  of  a  discussion  of  the  question, 
which  will  in  a  degree  damp  this  poison,  &  which  I  pray  God 
may  take  place.  I  do  not  wish  to  see  the  character  or  courage  of 
the  Country  called  in  question,  but  Fabian  prudence  was  never 
more  necessary.  We  have  a  singular  enemy,  extremely  power- 
full,  but  extremely  diseased  &  almost  all  mankind  unite  in  this 
Opinion,  that  a  great  change  if  not  political  death  must  speed- 
ily take  place.  In  a  revolution,  if  we  shall  not  have  committed 
ourselves,  we  certainly  have  everything  to  hope,  &  in  the  event 
of  a  general  peace,  may  reasonably  expect,  that  all  our  diflScul- 
ties  will  subside.  If  united  among  ourselves,  such  have  been  our 

"  Edward  H.  Robbins  (1758-1829),  afterwards  Lieutenant  Governor  of 
Massachusetts. 
"  William  Heath. 


92  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

injuries  from  that  republic,  that  we  ought  to  hazard  the  last 
shilling  to  obtain  satisfaction,  but  the  infatuated  state  of  our 
Country,  the  barefaced  conduct  &  exertions  of  the  faction  ^N-ithin 
us,  would  paralize  every  effort  of  administration  &  finally  end 
in  civil  War.  If  we  are  now  prostrate,  we  must  thank  ourselves ; 
for  the  same  conduct  by  the  same  faction  pursued  with  respect 
to  any  foreign  nation  who  might  have  the  same  power  &  am- 
bition, would  bring  down  the  same  insult,  injury  &  contempt  as 
we  now  meet  with  from  France. 

Without  flattery,  your  speech  &  conduct  in  the  session  are 
both  approved  by  your  friends,  &  a  continuance  of  steady  sup- 
port, firm  but  moderate,  general  &  not  personal,  to  the  present 
administration  &  measures  will  not  only  insure  you  the  appro- 
bation of  your  constituents,  but  I  think  also  their  Obligation. 
For  in  your  present  task,  must  be  a  great  share  of  bitter,  with 
precious  little  sweet.  It  did  not  become  you  to  court  a  duel, 
&  I  think  you  did  nothing  to  avoid  it,  which  a  Man  of  courage 
&  honour  wd  not  justify.  The  debates  of  all  your  gentlemen 
however  are  by  much  too  personal,  &  I  cannot  but  think  that 
if  each  one  would  try  in  that  particular  to  reform  himself,  it 
would  greatly  add  to  his  honour  &  fame,  &  remove  the  difficulty. 
A  man  may  shew  to  his  enemy  Great  Bravery  without  mixture 
of  any  passion.  .  .  .  We  are  barren  of  all  news.  Ames  is  very 
sick  at  Dedham  &  has  been  confined  for  the  month  past.  The 
public  part  of  your  letters  I  take  care  to  shew  the  Cabot,  Lowell 
&  Higginson  crew  for  without  their  approbation.  Where  will  the 
fat  he?  24 

Adieu  God  bless  you,  &  preserve  you  from  Fire,  powder  & 
the  Sword 

JoNA  Mason  Jr. 


JONATHAN  MASON,   JR.,   TO   OTIS 

Boston  Fire  Insurance  OflBce. 

March  30th.  1798 
My  dear  sir. 

I  received  your  deeds  by  the  last  Post,  also  your  letter  of  the 
22d.   The  contents  do  not  dismay  those  who  are  well  affected. 

^*  A  significant  reference  to  the  Essex  Junto,  and  their  control  of  political 
(avora. 


THE   CRISIS  OF  1798  93 

The  expectations  of  Federalists  have  long  since  subsided,  as 
they  respected  either  compensation  or  justice  from  the  French 
Republic.  On  the  contrary,  their  Fears  only  have  been,  that 
they  have  observed  an  insidious  doubtful  kind  of  conduct, 
which  would  in  this  country  have  increased  &  confirmed  the  un- 
happy division  among  us.  The  present  information  in  a  degree 
removes  those  fears,  &  as  far  as  I  can  see  has  already  had  a  happy 
effect  with  us.  Good  People  do  not  appear  to  be  frightened  far 
from  it.  Timid  ones  have  their  doubts  removed  daily,  &  the 
Jacobin  Class  will  with  us  be  shortly  confined  to  those  who  will 
sell  their  Country,  and  are  perhaps  among  the  most  abandoned 
of  mankind.  We  have  long  since  wanted  some  line  of  Conduct 
from  the  French,  which  should  be  unequivocal  &  visible  to  the 
most  common  eye,  that  should  supercede  argument,  &  not  be 
capable  of  wearing  two  faces.  We  are  going  to  have  that  same 
thing  &  it  will  operate  like  good  medicine  upon  the  body  poli- 
tic. It  seems  on  all  hands  agreed  that  a  short  fever  is  preferable 
to  a  languishing  consumption.  We  wish  much  for  the  papers, 
if  they  can  with  propriety  be  made  public.  The  Jacobins  want 
them.  And  in  the  name  of  God  let  them  be  gratified ;  it  is  not 
the  first  time  they  have  wished  for  the  means  of  their  destruc- 
tion. Mr  Adams  has  immortalized  himself  in  the  Opinion  of 
Yankeys  —  he  seems  to  stand  alone  with  the  sentiments  he  set 
out  with  in  1763  &  75  —  &  they  do  not  appear  impaired.  W^ith 
these  sentiments  &  a  vigorous  governmt.  to  support  them,  we 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  those  rascals  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Water.  But  while  he  promulgates  them  &  the  government  para- 
lizes  them,  nothing  can  be  expected  from  the  French  but  insult 
&  injury,  unless  you  remove  him  &  every  other  branch  &  law 
that  they  do  not  approve.  (I  was  obliged  to  permit  a  part  of  your 
letter  to  be  published  in  to  morrow's  Centinel.  The  'praying  part, 
Russell  said  he  would  be  damn'd  if  he  could  publish.  So  in 
future  you  had  better  lay  that  aside,  as  I  am  not  much  better 
acquainted  with  it,  than  his  honor)  We  must  reconcile  our 
minds  to  a  few  moments  of  Warfare.  It  will  not  hurt  us,  &  I 
am  not  one  those  that  think,  that  it  will  produce  either  a  civil 
war,  or  break  down  the  great  business  of  society  in  this  Country 
which  at  present  appears  so  well  founded. 

We  have  much  to  expect  from  the  other  side  of  the  Water.  & 
it  is  not  an  improbable  conjecture,  that  the  period  is  not  far 


94  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

distant,  when  this  very  conduct  of  the  Executive  directory  to- 
wards this  Country,  shall  be  brought  as  a  specific  charge  of  com- 
plaint against  them,  by  their  successors  in  Office.  A  revolution 
in  its  nature  must  be  at  hand.  No  thinking  Man  believes  them 
to  be  sincere  in  the  projected  invasion  —  much  less  that  they 
will  succeed  if  they  attempt  it.  The  money  sinews  of  the  Coun- 
try are  now  strained  &  forced  beyond  their  bearing  to  carry  it 
on,  &  the  day  of  reconing  will  follow  close  at  its  heels.  Under 
these  circumstances,  the  Opposition  in  our  Country  notwith- 
standing. If  Government  continue  upright,  &  firm  in  their  poli- 
ticks, If  they  will  furnish  the  Means  of  defence.  If  they  will 
shew  a  handsome  regard  to  themselves,  &  let  the  World  witness, 
that  tho'  they  are  prudent,  they  are  not  afraid,  that  tho'  they 
forbear,  they  do  not  mean  to  flinch,  we  shall  get  along  &  per- 
haps renovate  that  character,  which  your  house  has  this  session 
greatly  tarnished  .  .  . 

THOMAS   HANDASYD   PERKINS   TO   OTIS 

Boston  April  21,  1798  Sunday  Eve. 

Knowing  how  much  pleasure  you  will  receive,  from  a  measure 
now  in  operation  with  us,  I  enclose  you  the  copy  of  an  address, 
which  was  opened  yesterday  &  received  in  a  few  hours  150 
names.  A  Committee  of  36  persons,  such  as  Jones,  Davis, 
Parsons,  Dawes,  Higginson  &c  are  to  hand  it  round  tomorrow 
—  it  seems  to  unite  all  parties,  except  such  as  we  shou'd  feel  dis- 
graced in  having  with  us  even  in  a  good  cause.  I  think  it  prob- 
able, that  after  we  get  the  strength  of  the  Town  pledged  in  this 
way,  it  will  get  the  finishing  stroke  by  a  Town  Meeting,  when 
perhaps  the  Toum  will  in\nte  our  fellow  Citizens  in  the  Country 
to  adopt  a  similar  measure.  It  is  a  melancholy  concession  to 
make,  that  our  government  has  need  of  this  sort  of  aid,  but  as 
we  cannot  deny  the  fact  it  is  a  duty  in  us  to  give  it. 

You  may  recollect  the  Knot  of  Jacobinism,  which  was  con- 
centrated at  Sam.  Turells  shop  in  State  street,  with  C.  Mar- 
shall at  the  head  —  these  same  people  have  volunteered  in 
signing  &  forwarding  this  measure. 

I  congratulate  you  most  heartily  on  the  very  general  satis- 
faction, which  your  letter  to  Heath  has  given  —  the  Chronicle 


THE  CRISIS  OF  1798  95 

of  tomorrow,  says  handsome  things  about  it,  which  to  be  sure  is 
rather  against  it,  but  we  are  all  open  to  this  vehicle  of  scandal, 
&  therefore  if  they  do  praise  you,  you  must  bear  it  with  forti- 
tude, &  hope,  that  the  public  in  general  will  not  believe  you  have 
given  them  cause,  to  be  serious,  it  has  meet  the  united  approba- 
tion of  the  Federal  party,  &  done  much  good  with  those  who 
were  luke  warm.  You  have  given  the  Good  man  such  a  dose  of 
the  "oyl  of  fool,"  as  has  satisfyed  his  vanity,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  secured  his  good  opinion.  I  sat  down  to  write  you  three 
words  &  I  have  got  almost  to  the  bottom  of  the  third  page  of 
my  paper  therefore  must  say  good  night,  as  I  am  to  see  the 
committee  to  take  measures  for  the  morning. 

With  much  regard  Always  your  friend 

T  Handasyd  Perkins.    . 

JONATHAN  MASON,   JR.,    TO   OTIS 

Boston  May  3d  1798 

.  .  .  With  US  we  have  nothing  to  say  new  at  present.  We 
look  to  you  at  Philadelphia  for  the  mode  in  which  the  true 
American  Character  &  Spirit  is  to  display  itself  to  the  eyes 
not  only  of  France  but  all  Europe.  Hitherto  we  have  had  no 
reason  to  be  ashamed  of  it,  &  I  hope  the  damn'd  Cankerworm 
that  now  feeds  upon  our  vitals  will  not  blast  in  our  manhood, 
what  we  acquired  when  only  in  infancy.  This  dispute  is  not  to 
end  in  Smash  only.  We  must  have  a  brush  with  the  gentlemen, 
unless  a  new  administration  when  in  power  will  undertake  to 
punish  these  flagellators  of  all  Europe.  I  pray  God,  for  a  speedy 
succession,  &  that  the  Fact  may  take  place. 

Yrs 

J  Mason  Jr. 

JONATHAN   MASON,   JR.,    TO   OTIS 

Boston  May  28.  1798 

.  .  .  In  New  England  we  sail  full  as  fast  as  you  do  in  Phila- 
delphia. It  does  not  take  us  a  month  to  make  an  alien  bill, 
or  raise  a  Provisional  army.  We  have  a  large  majority  that  are 
inclined  to  do  all  those  things  heartily.  War  for  a  time  we  must 
have,  &  our  fears  to  the  Northward  are,  that  you  will  cripple 


96  HiVRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

the  Executive  —  that  you  will  rise  without  a  proper  climax. 
Our  Commissioners  are  in  jeopardy.  True  but  they  have  al- 
ready said  &  done  eno'  with  your  assistance  to  loose  not  only 
their  liberty  but  their  Heads,  if  the  French  Directory  thirst 
after  the  blood  of  three  poor  defenceless  citizens.  Therefore  it 
is  now  to  be  wished,  that  Congress  under  those  apprehensions, 
will  not  leave  anything  undone  that  ought  to  be  done,  &  we 
pray  that  decisive  orders  may  be  given  &  that  accussed  Treaty 
may  be  annulled.  If  we  are  to  fight  &  cannot  run.  Custom  has 
made  it  necessary,  that  we  should  season  our  Conduct,  with  a 
proper  proportion  of  Crowing.  The  time  is  now  passed,  when 
we  should  fear  giving  offence.  There  has  been  a  moment,  when 
we  have  suspended  principles,  &  even  parted  with  them  for  the 
sake  of  peace,  but  that  Conduct  has  brought  upon  us  Insult  & 
injury.  As  to  Union  among  ourselves,  I  speak  of  my  own  State, 
there  never  was  a  greater.  Thro'  out  our  Country,  the  Yeo- 
manry are  not  only  united  but  spirited  —  if  any  thing,  fors\"ard 
of  the  Seaports.  There  never  can  be  a  greater  conviction  take 
place,  &  there  is  no  jacobin  now  existing,  that  would  not  be 
the  selfsame  base  creature,  were  the  French  in  possession  of  the 
Capital.  Our  elections  for  Representatives,  tho  not  the  most 
able,  are  decidedly  federal  &  the  droping  of  Dr.  E[ustis]  has 
laid  the  party  completely  prostrate.  In  private  life  a  manly, 
clever  fellow,  but  in  Politicks,  Insane.  Harder  for  him  in  this 
situation  to  do  a  right  thing,  than  in  the  other,  a  wrong  one  — 
every  opening  was  tendered  to  him,  every  delicate  mode  made 
use  of,  &  Interviews  solicited,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  &  he  must 
either  fall,  or  upon  the  seat  there  must  be  at  least  a  luke  warm 
friend,  perhaps  an  open  enemy,  &  him,  a  leader.  His  resolu- 
tions &  measures  were  accordingly  adopted  &  effected.  The 
Legislature  will  forward  you  a  handsome,  spirited  address  & 
nearly  unanimous.  As  to  private  news  or  scandal  we  have  none. 
To  morrow.  Increase  ^^  will  be  in  his  robes,  &  Mr.  Bobo,  as  was 
once  before  said,  tho'  perhaps  not  upon  a  more  dignified  occa- 
sion, up  to  his in  business.   WTiat  more  will  you  have? 

Our  bank  House  is  going  on  swimmingly  —  if  it  needs  a  shove, 
push  it  for  God's  sake,  for  instead  of  thirty,  it  will  cost  sixty 
thousand  dollars.  .  .  . 

^*  Increase  Sumner,  Governor  of  Massachusetts. 


CHAPTER  VII 

DEFENSE   AND   REPRISAL 

1798,  ^T.  32 

The  news  revealed  by  the  publication  of  the  X.  Y.  Z. 
dispatches  called  for  no  change  in  Federalist  policy.  It 
simply  demonstrated  that  such  measures  as  Adams  and 
Hamilton  and  Harper  and  Otis  had  been  urging  for  the 
past  year,  were  absolutely  necessary  to  defend  the  na- 
tion's commerce,  and  to  vindicate  its  honor.  There  was 
no  need  to  declare  war  on  France.  The  first  impulse, 
indeed,  of  an  ardent  Federalist,  on  reading  of  the  out- 
rageous treatment  of  our  envoys  in  Paris,  and  the  in- 
solent threats  of  the  "fate  of  Venice,"  must  have  been 
warlike.  We  have  the  authority  of  Jefferson's  Anas  (his 
private  diary  of  fugitive  political  gossip),  quoting  Otis  as 
one  of  his  sources  of  information,  that  the  propriety  of 
declaring  war  was  debated  in  a  caucus  of  Federalist 
Congressmen,  and  defeated  by  a  majority  of  five.^  Otis 
was  probably  one  of  the  minority.  Although  he  depre- 
cated war   previous  to  the  month  of  April, ^  he  later 

^  Jefferson,  Works,  ix,  195-96.  The  Anas,  on  this  point,  is  more  trust- 
worthy than  usual,  since  Jefferson's  information,  though  third-hand,  came  from 
three  different  sources,  including  Otis.  The  time  when  the  caucus  is  held  is 
simply  indicated  as  "during  the  X.  Y.  Z.  Congress";  it  may,  therefore,  have 
taken  place  at  any  time  before  March,  1799.  The  Philadelphia  Aurora,  a 
source  even  less  trustworthy  than  Jefferson's  Anas,  reported  in  1800  that  seven- 
teen Federalist  Senators  held  a  caucus  at  the  Bingham  mansion  in  the  summer 
of  1798,  and  agreed  that  all  present  should  pledge  themselves  to  act  firmly 
upon  the  measures  agreed  upon  by  the  majority  present.  M.  Ostrogorski,  in 
Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  v,  259.  John  Adams  refers  to  "nocturnal  caucuses  at  the 
pompous  Mansion  House,"  in  a  letter  to  Otis  of  April  4,  1823.  Cf.  Annals 
Fifth  Cong.,  2629.    ' 

^  "WTiether  Great  Britain  is  doomed  to  yield  to  the  arms  &  politicks  of 
France,  or  whether  the  five  Kings  will  squabble  with  each  other,  so  that 


98  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

expressed  the  opinion  that  Congress  made  a  mistake  in 
failing  to  declare  war  during  its  second  session. 

To  initiate  a  war  policy  at  that  time,  however,  would 
have  been  foolhardy  from  a  political  viewpoint,  and 
useless  from  a  military  viewpoint.  If  war  must  come, 
the  tactical  advantage  of  its  declaration  by  France  was 
obvious.  In  that  event  the  Republican  party  could  con- 
tinue its  opposition  only  at  the  cost  of  political  suicide. 
For  military  purposes  a  system  of  home  defense  and 
naval  reprisals  was  sufficient  to  protect  American  com- 
merce from  French  spoliation,  and  prepare  the  country 
for  a  possible  French  invasion.  This  policy  had  the  merit 
of  uniting  the  Federal  party :  the  moderates  supported  it, 
as  the  only  way  of  avoiding  hostilities  consistent  with 
national  self-respect;  and  the  war  Federalists,  who  counted 
on  a  declaration  of  war  from  France,  were  satisfied  with 
its  provisions.^  The  French  government,  moreover,  could 
reply  in  but  one  of  two  ways,  either  by  declaring  war, 
or,  as  actually  happened,  by  showing  a  disposition  to 
respect  our  claims.  But  for  the  fatal  incubus  of  Alien 
and  Sedition  Acts  that  they  added  to  this  system,  the 
men  responsible  for  it  would  receive  our  unqualified 
admiration  as  politicians  and  statesmen. 

Spurred  on  by  the  voice  of  the  nation,  by  addresses 
from  their  constituents,  and  by  spirited  messages  from 
the  President,  Otis  and  Harper  had  little  difficulty  in 

'honest  men  may  come  to  their  dues,'  are  events  shrouded  from  our  foresight. 
I  shall  bear  either  of  them  with  Christian  Fortitude,  if  our  own  Country 
can  be  permitted  to  remain  at  peace."  Otis  to  Mercy  Warren,  March  15, 
1798.    Warren  MSS. 

'  George  Cabot  wrote  Rufus  King,  February  16, 1799,  referring  to  the  mea- 
sures of  the  last  session:  "Genl  Marshall  [who  returned  in  June]  unfortunately 
held  the  decided  opinion  that  France  would  declare  war  when  the  Dispatches 
shou'd  appear:  &  T.  Sewcll  with  other  good  men  were  so  strongly  impressed 
with  the  advantage  of  such  a  declaration  by  them  that  they  cou'd  not  be  per- 
suaded to  relinquish  the  belief  in  it  —  I  was  astonished  that  they  should  have 
attributed  to  the  French  such  miserable  policy."   King,  u,  643. 


DEFENSE  AND  REPRISAL  99 

pushing  through  Congress  a  plan  of  defense  and  reprisal. 
Although  the  root-and-branch  Federalists  of  the  Essex 
Junto  still  complained  of  the  slow  movement  of  this 
"twaddling,  whiffling  Congress,"  ^  it  seemed  a  different 
legislature  from  the  timid,  vacillating  body  of  the  past 
winter  and  spring.  Dayton  and  the  waverers  came  back 
into  line,  and  the  party  caucus  made  all  Federalists  pull 
together.  The  Republicans  were  dismayed.  "The  oppo- 
sition in  our  house  appears  at  present  so  disconcerted," 
writes  Otis  (April  14),  "that  we  proceed  in  business  with 
less  difficulty  than  formerly."  A  week  later,  disheartened 
at  the  Federalists'  strength,  opposition  members  from 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  began  to  slip  away  from  Phila- 
delphia, in  order  to  kindle  a  back  fire  of  state  rights 
against  the  Federalist  sj^stem.  Gallatin  and  Macon  still 
led  the  opposition,  still  opposed  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  a 
better  cause,  every  measure  for  national  defense  or  retal- 
iation against  France.  They  were,  however,  no  longer 
dangerous.  With  a  normal  Federalist  majority  during 
the  remainder  of  the  session  of  ten  to  fifteen  votes,  Otis 
and  Harper  were  given  full  swing. 

Back  of  Congress  and  the  Executive  stood  Alexander 
Hamilton,  ruling  the  Federal  party,  and  through  it  the 
nation,  from  his  law  office  in  New  York.  Almost  every 
act  of  the  session  may  be  traced  to  his  letters.  ^  On  Otis 
and  Harper  fell  the  task  of  turning  his  recommendations 
into  bills,  and  pushing  them  through.  Jefferson  gives  us 

*  Gibbs,  n.  70. 

*  See  especially  his  Works,  vi,  270,  295,  and  B.  C.  Steiner,  McEenry,  291- 
95.  The  President  would  submit  to  the  Cabinet  a  set  of  questions  as  to  the  best 
policy  to  follow  in  a  given  case,  and  the  Hamiltonian  members,  Pickering, 
Wolcott,  and  McHenry,  would  procure  Hamilton's  \-iews  and  submit  them  to 
the  President  as  their  own.  Through  the  same  channel  Hamilton's  opinions 
were  probably  communicated  to  Congress.  Cf.  Harper's  resolutions  of  July  3, 
1798  {Annals  of  Fifth  Congress,  2084)  with  Hamilton's  "further  measures  to 
be  taken  without  delay"  of  June  5  {Works,  w,  295). 


100  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

in  his  Anas  a  glimpse  of  the  process  during  an  incipient 
deal  between  Otis  and  Rutledge  for  measures  satisfactory 
to  their  respective  sections.  Rutledge,  according  to  this 
story,  was  discussing  plans  with  another  member  from 
South  Carolina,  when  Otis  came  in.  "Rutledge  addressed 
Otis.  Now,  Sir,  says  he,  you  must  come  forward  with 
something  liberal  for  the  Southern  States,  fortify  their 
harbors,  and  build  gallies,  in  order  to  obtain  their  con- 
currence. Otis  said,  we  insist  on  convoys  for  our  Euro- 
pean trade,  and  guarda  castas,  on  which  condition  alone 
we  will  give  them  gallies  and  fortifications."  ^  Seeing  that 
ten  "gallies,"  light  draught  vessels  for  coast  defense,  were 
provided  for  in  an  act  of  this  session,  we  may  believe 
Jefferson's  story. 

The  most  essential  part  of  the  Federalist  defensive 
programme  was  to  create  a  navy.  Otis,  by  his  oratory  and 
his  vote,  helped  to  pass  measures  authorizing  the  Presi- 
dent to  purchase  six  vessels  of  thirty-two  guns,  twelve 
"twenties,"  and  six  "eighteens."  A  navy  department 
was  organized,  half  a  million  dollars  voted  for  fortifica- 
tions, and  over  a  million  for  arms,  ammunition,  and 
materiel. 

Far  more  important  than  the  naval  acts,  from  the 
political  point  of  view,  were  the  army  acts,  because  they 
afforded  the  opposition  a  powerful  lever  to  operate  on 
popular  prejudice.  The  regular  army  was  increased  to  a 
temporary  total  of  thirteen  thousand,  "for  and  during 
the  continuance  of  the  present  difficulties  with  France." 
The  President  was  authorized  to  accept  the  services  of 
volunteer  troops,  paying  their  own  expenses,  to  be  called 
upon  when  needed.  Gallatin  denounced  this  scheme  as 
class  legislation,  as  an  exclusive  privilege  to  young  men 
of  wealth.  "Does  the  gentleman  suppose  that  none  but 

»  Jefferson,  Works,  rx,  192. 


DEFENSE  AND  REPRISAL  101 

the  sons  of  the  wealthy  will  turn  out  in  defence  of  their 
country?"  replied  Otis.  Most  prominent,  however,  in 
the  military  legislation  was  the  Provisional  Army  Act,  of 
May  28, 1798. 

According  to  this  law  the  President,  in  case  of  a  declar- 
ation of  war  against  the  United  States,  or  of  imminent 
danger  of  invasion  before  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
might  recruit  ten  thousand  men  for  three  years'  service. 
The  officers  were  to  receive  their  appointments  immedi- 
ately, but  to  draw  no  pay  until  actually  called  into  serv- 
ice. The  bill,  originating  in  the  Senate,  was  immediately 
denounced  by  Nicholas  and  Gallatin  on  its  appearance  in 
the  House.  In  their  estimation  no  increase  of  military 
force  was  necessary  when  militia  was  available,  and 
further  the  bill  provided  an  unconstitutional  transfer  of 
legislative  power  to  the  Executive.  The  spectre  of  a 
standing  army,  words  that  still  held  unpleasant  memories 
for  Anglo-Saxons,  was  conjured  up.  Otis  undertook  to 
answer  all  these  objections.  He  had,  he  insisted,  a  high 
opinion  of  our  militia,  but  he  was  surprised  to  hear  that 
it  would  be  an  efficient  defense  against  the  veteran  troops 
of  the  French  Republic.  If  the  Revolution  had  taught 
us  one  military  lesson,  it  was  that  militia  could  not  be 
relied  upon  for  steady  military  operations.  He  reiterated 
the  arguments  contained  in  his  letter  to  General  Heath, 
concerning  the  possibility  of  a  French  invasion,  and 
pointed  out  that  it  would  be  natural  for  France  to  con- 
ceive that  she  had  the  power  of  invasion,  if  we  should 
decline  to  raise  any  force  to  meet  her.  It  was  worth  a 
hundred  times  the  expense  of  raising  the  provisional 
army  to  change  foreign  opinion  of  our  weakness,  and  he, 
for  one,  wished  that  provision  had  been  made  for  fifty 
thousand  instead  of  for  ten  thousand  men.  As  for  the 
constitutional  objection,  Otis  considered  it  "no  time  for 


102  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

nice  constitutional  scruples.  No  army  can  be  raised 
without  giving  the  President  a  certain  amount  of  power.'* 

Republican  opposition  on  this  ground  was  simply  due 
to  fear  of  executive  power,  when  wielded  by  a  Federalist 
President.  The  Provisional  Army  Act  was,  in  fact,  a  close 
parallel  to  the  Militia  Act  of  1795,  the  constitutionality 
of  which  was  unquestioned,  and  the  imputation  that  it 
created  a  standing  army  was  without  foundation.  The 
measure  provided  for  merely  a  paper  army,  a  skeleton 
army.  As  Otis  said,  in  debate,  the  bill  "only  declares 
that  if  existing  circumstances  shall  make  it  necessary, 
then  the  President  shall  raise  an  army  not  exceeding  a 
certain  number  of  men.  It  may  happen  that  the  necessity 
may  not  exist;  but  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  must  be 
able  to  fathom  the  intentions  of  France  further  than  I  can 
pretend  to  do,  if  he  can  say  that  no  such  necessity  can 
exist.  If  what  was  said  by  the  agents  of  that  Government 
to  our  Envoys  can  be  relied  on,  there  is  a  direct  threat  to 
ravage  our  coasts." 

Another  and  more  serious  charge  against  the  Army 
Acts  of  1798  would  scarcely  be  worth  refuting,  but  for  its 
acceptance  by  an  eminent  modern  historian,^  This 
indictment,  that  the  regular  and  provisional  armies  were 
designed  primarily  to  suppress  democracy,  and  not  to 
protect  the  country  against  France,  is  not  supported  by 
the  slightest  evidence.  The  motive  of  the  measure  clearly 
lay  in  the  Federalists'  fear  of  a  French  invasion,  as  ex- 
pressed by  Otis  in  his  letter  to  General  Heath,  —  a  fear 
that  was  groundless,  as  subsequent  events  showed,  but 
perfectly  genuine.  It  is  true  that  the  threatened  rebellion 
in  Virginia  and  Kentucky  in  1799  postponed  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  regular  army  to  a  peace  footing,  and  that 
Hamilton  later  desired  to  use  the  army  for  purposes  of 

»  Henry  Adams,  Gallatin,  199,  211. 


DEFENSE  AND  REPRISAL  103 

conquest  and  personal  glory;  but  the  statement  that  the 
army  acts  were  conceived  for  dragonnading  is  entirely 
unfounded.^  The  regular  army  never  reached  its  legal 
limit,  and  the  provisional  army  never  passed  the  skeleton 
stage;  but  both  measures  acted  with  salutary  effect  on 
the  French  government,  by  showing  that  America  had 
both  the  spirit  and  the  means  to  defend  herself.  Politi- 
cally, however,  the  army  act  resulted  unfortunately  for 
Otis  and  his  party.  Because  no  French  invasion  ever 
took  place.  Republican  leaders  and  editors  were  able  to 
convince  thousands  that  the  "standing  army"  of  1798 
was  designed  to  enforce  the  Sedition  Act,  and  to  crush 
out  personal  liberty. 

In  order  to  meet  the  necessary  increase  of  expenditure, 
a  direct  tax  was  levied  on  houses  and  slaves.  By  a  some- 
what clumsy  classification  the  rate  of  taxation  on  houses 
was  made  progressive  —  increasing  from  one  fifth  of  one 
per  cent  for  a  house  valued  at  five  hundred  dollars  to  one 
per  cent  for  a  house  valued  at  thirty  thousand  dollars. 
In  the  debate  on  this  measure,  on  June  26,  we  have  the 
interesting  spectacle  of  two  Democrats  in  the  opposition, 
Samuel  Smith  and  Edward  Livingston,  who  insisted  that 
the  progressive  principle  was  too  hard  on  the  well-to-do, 
while  Otis,  a  large  real-estate  owner  himself  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  supposed  aristocratic  party,  defended  a  pro- 
gressive increase  of  rates,  on  the  ground  that  good  houses 
are  a  better  criterion  of  the  wealth  of  their  owners  than 
any  other  form  of  property.^  In  the  end,  most  of  the 
Republicans  and  all  the  Federalists  voted  for  the  bill. 
Although  carefully  planned  to  make  the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion fall  on  those  who  were  best  able  to  bear  it,  this  direct 

*  It  is  interesting  to  find  that  similar  charges  were  made  by  Fox  and  Sheri- 
dan and  the  English  democratic  clubs  against  William  Pitt  at  this  period. 
J.  Holland  Rose,  William  Pitt  and  the  Great  War,  284,  510. 

9  Annals  of  Fifth  Congress,  2053-57. 


104  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

tax  produced  a  small  insurrection  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
became  in  the  public  mind  an  engine  of  Federalist  oppres- 
sion. 

The  second  portion  of  the  Federalist  programme  was 
to  retaliate  in  kind  against  French  spoliations.  All  ves- 
sels flying  the  American  flag,  whether  merchant  vessels, 
privateers,  or  men-of-war,  were  authorized  by  Congress 
to  capture  French  armed  vessels,  and  to  recapture  their 
American  prizes.  Commercial  intercourse  with  France 
was  suspended,  and  the  Treaty  of  1778,  which  the  French 
had  long  since  ceased  to  observe,  was  denounced.  Otis, 
who  early  in  the  session  expressed  himself  as  opposed  to 
half-way  measures,  constantly  defended  these  policies  in 
debate,  while  the  opposition  protested  at  every  step.  By 
the  end  of  the  session,  July  16, 1798,  Congress  had  created 
a  state  of  quasi-naval  war,  differing  only  from  an  actual 
declared  war  in  that  Frenchmen  were  not  proclaimed  pub- 
lic enemies,  and  the  capture  of  unarmed  vessels  was  not 
permitted.  During  the  two  and  one  half  years  that 
elapsed  before  the  Republic  came  to  terms,  our  infant 
navy  rescued  American  commerce  from  the  harassing 
depredations  of  the  French  privateers,  and  worsted  many 
a  French  national  ship  in  single  combat.  For  this  glori- 
ous result  of  his  favorite  policy.  President  Adams  de- 
serves the  much-disputed  title  of  "Father  of  the  Ameri- 
can Navy."  When  he  became  President,  there  was  no 
American  navy.  During  his  administration,  as  he  boasted 
in  his  old  age,  "I  humbled  the  French  Directory  as  much 
as  all  Europe  has  humbled  Bonaparte.  ...  I  built  frig- 
ates, manned  a  navy,  and  selected  oflScers  with  great 
anxiety  and  care,  who  perfectly  protected  our  commerce, 
and  gained  virgin  victories  against  the  French,  and  who 
afterwards  acquired  such  laurels  in  the  Mediterranean 
and  who  have  lately  emblazoned  themselves  and  their 


DEFENSE  AND  REPRISAL  105 

country  with  a  naval  glory,  which  I  tremble  to  think 
of."  ^°  Otis  was  equally  proud  of  his  services,  in  pushing 
through  Congress,  against  the  violent  opposition  of  the 
Democracy,  this  naval  policy  which  made  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  a  terror  to  the  Tricolor,  and  trained  the  ships  and 
sea-fighters  that  humbled  the  Union  Jack  in  1812. 

^^  John  Adams,  Works,  x,  152. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A    SYSTEM   OF   TERROR 
1798,  JET.  32 

The  measures  of  defense  and  retaliation,  described  in 
the  foregoing  chapter,  are  the  bright  side  of  the  FederaHst 
system  of  1798.  Prompted  by  a  legitimate  and  patriotic 
desire  to  force  French  policy  into  the  open,  the  party 
admirably  succeeded  in  its  purpose,  and  brought  self- 
respect  to  the  American  government  and  people.  On  the 
other  side,  we  have  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts,  induced 
by  a  spirit  of  hysteria  and  political  intolerance,  which 
proved  fatal  to  their  authors.  Under  this  title  are  in- 
cluded the  Naturalization  Act  of  June  18,  1798,  the  Act 
Concerning  Aliens  of  June  25,  the  Act  Respecting  Alien 
Enemies  of  July  6,  and  the  Act  for  the  Punishment  of 
Certain  Crimes  (Sedition  Act)  of  July  14.  The  two  Alien 
Acts  were  justifiable,  though  unnecessary,  measures  of 
self-defense  against  French  spies  and  intrigants,  but  the 
Naturalization  and  Sedition  Laws  belong  to  a  different 
category.  Designed  primarily  not  for  defense  against  a 
foreign  power,  but  for  offense  against  the  Democratic 
party,  they  were  calculated  to  rob  that  party  of  an  im- 
portant element  of  its  vote,  and  to  make  political  oppo- 
sition to  Federalism  a  crime.  They  were  the  principal 
cause  of  the  Federalist  defeat  in  1800.  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  who  was  responsible  as  much  as  any  man  for  their 
passage,  always  defended  the  principles  of  these  laws, 
and  must  therefore  share  their  obloquy. 

First  of  these  measures  to  reach  enactment  was  the 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  107 

Naturalization  Act,  extending  from  five  to  nineteen 
years  the  period  of  residence  necessary  for  aliens  who 
wished  to  become  naturalized.  The  reason  for  this  move 
on  the  part  of  the  Federalists  was  obvious,  —  the  Repub- 
lican party  was  absorbing  the  foreign  vote.  Originally 
the  Federalists  had  no  objection  to  speedj'^  naturalization, 
but  after  the  French  Revolution  they  repented  their 
early  liberality.  From  1792  on,  Europe  outside  France 
became  an  uncomfortable  place  for  French  sympathizers 
and  Republicans,  and  a  stream  of  Irish,  Scotch,  and 
German  malcontents  began  to  flow  into  the  United 
States.  These  classes  naturally  spurned  the  party  of 
conservatism  and  privilege,  and,  as  soon  as  they  became 
naturalized,  joined  the  party  that  stood  for  Gallomania 
and  democracy.  By  1798  the  alliance  between  native 
democracy  and  the  Irish  vote,  which  has  endured  to 
this  day,  was  already  cemented.  The  apprehension  of 
his  party  is  reflected  in  a  remark  of  Otis  in  a  letter  to  his 
wife:  "If  some  means  are  not  adopted  to  prevent  the 
indiscriminate  admission  of  wild  Irishmen  &  others  to 
the  right  of  suffrage,  there  will  soon  be  an  end  to  liberty 
&  property."  * 

Modern  conservative  parties  have  met  a  similar  situa- 
tion by  attempting  to  outbid  their  opponents  for  the 
foreign    vote    through    flattery    and    corruption.     The 

1  There  is  a  delightful  example  of  this  same  attitude  in  a  letter  of  Uriah 
Tracy  of  Connecticut,  dated  August  7,  1800:  "In  my  lengthy  journey  through 
this  state  [Pennsylvania]  I  have  seen  many,  very  many.  Irishmen,  and  with  a 
very  few  exceptions,  they  are  United  Irishmen,  Free  Masons,  and  the  most 
God-provoking  Democrats  on  this  side  of  Hell."  —  Gibbs,  ii,  399.  In  1798, 
Rufus  King,  the  American  minister  in  London,  exerted  his  influence  success- 
fully with  the  British  government  to  prevent  Irish  political  exiles  from  being 
sent  to  the  United  States.  He  distinctly  avowed  that  the  Irish  were  not 
wanted,  "because  a  large  proportion  of  the  emigrants  from  Ireland,  and 
especially  in  our  middle  states,  has  upon  this  occasion  arranged  itself  upon  the 
side  of  the  malcontents."  The  complete  correspondence  on  this  incident  may 
be  found  in  C.  R.  King's  Rufus  King,  ii,  635-49. 


108  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Federal  party  was  more  self-respecting  and  more  direct. 
It  determined  to  strike  the  evil  at  its  roots,  and  destroy 
the  foreign  vote.  This  purpose  was  first  distinctly  avowed 
by  Otis,  in  the  first  session  of  the  Fifth  Congress.  He 
undertook,  on  July  1,  1797,  to  defend  a  proposed  tax 
of  twenty  dollars  on  certificates  of  naturalization.  The 
opposition  immediately  charged  that  the  object  of  this 
resolve  was  not  to  raise  revenue,  but  to  restrict  immigra- 
tion. Otis  acknowledged  the  charge,  and  defended  the 
proposition  in  a  notable  speech.  After  an  attack  on  the 
French  Revolution,  he  remarked: 

The  Amendment  will  not  affect  those  men  who  already  have 
lands  in  this  country,  nor  the  deserving  part  of  those  who  may 
seek  an  asylum  in  it.  Persons  of  that  description  can  easily  pay 
the  tax;  but  it  will  tend  to  foreclose  the  mass  of  vicious  and  dis- 
organizing characters  who  can  not  live  peaceably  at  home,  and 
who,  after  unfurling  the  standard  of  rebellion  in  their  own  coun- 
tries, may  come  hither  to  revolutionize  ours.  I  feel  every  dis- 
position to  respect  those  honest  and  industrious  people.  .  .  . 
who  have  become  citizens  .  .  .  but  I  do  not  wish  to  invite 
hordes  of  wild  Irishmen,  nor  the  turbulent  and  disorderly  of  all 
parts  of  the  world,  to  come  here  with  a  view  to  disturb  our 
tranquillity,  after  having  succeeded  in  the  overthrow  of  their 
own  Governments. 

This  effusion,  dubbed  "Otis's  Wild  Irish  Speech," 
caused  much  comment  in  the  party  press. ^  Otis,  never- 
theless, did  not  secure  his  object,  for  the  twenty-dollar 
proposition  failed  to  pass. 

When  the  publication  of  the  X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches,  on 

*  It  even  brought  forth  a  piece  of  political  doggerel  entitled  "An  Irish 
Epistle  to  H.  G.  Otis,"  one  stanza  of  which  is  not  bad: 

"  Young  man.    We  would  have  you  remember 
While  we  in  this  country  can  tarry, 
The  '  Wild  Irish  '  will  choose  a  new  member 
And  will  ne  'er  vote  again  for  young  Harry." 

Otis  was  finally  driven  to  an  explanation  that  by  "wild  Irishmen  "  he  did 
not  mean  the  whole  Irish  nation. 


J 


A  SYSTEM  OF  ^TERROR  109 

April  5,  1798,  gave  them  the  undisputed  mastery  of  the 
House,  the  Federahsts  did  not  wait  long  before  restricting 
the  enfranchisement  of  immigrants  in  a  much  more 
direct  manner.  The  first  step  in  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
system  was  taken  on  April  19,  by  referring  the  question 
of  amending  the  old  Naturalization  Act  to  a  committee, 
which  simply  recommended  a  prolongation  of  the  aliens' 
term  of  residence  before  naturalization.  This  suggestion 
failed  to  satisfy  Harper  and  Otis.  The  former  asserted, 
"the  time  is  now  come  when  it  will  be  proper  to 
declare,  that  nothing  but  birth  shall  entitle  a  man  to 
citizenship  in  this  country."  Otis  proposed  to  substitute 
for  the  committee  report,  a  resolution  "that  no  alien 
born,  who  is  not  at  present  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
shall  hereafter  be  capable  of  holding  any  office  of  honor, 
trust,  or  profit,  under  the  United  States,"  to  which 
Harper  wished  to  add,  "or  of  voting  at  the  election  of 
any  member  of  the  Legislature  of  the  United  States,  or 
of  any  State."  These  propositions,  if  adopted  as  law, 
would  certainly  have  accomplished  their  object  in  de- 
stroying the  Republicans'  foreign  vote,  and  in  prevent- 
ing future  Matthew  Lyons  and  Albert  Gallatins  from 
exercising  their  talents  in  a  manner  inimical  to  Feder- 
alism. Seldom  has  so  barefaced  an  attempt  to  injure  a 
political  party  been  made  in  Congress.  Otis's  proposition 
was  much  too  high-toned  for  most  of  his  party,  one 
member  of  which  persuaded  him  to  withdraw  it,  as  un- 
constitutional.^ But  the  legislature  of  his  native  state 
stamped  his  policy  with  its  approval,  when  three  months 
later  it  proposed  to  amend  the  Constitution  by  excluding 
foreign-born  citizens  from  the  House  and  Senate. 

'  Annals,  1573.  In  1798,  no  one  supposed  that  Congress  had  the  power  to 
alter  the  qualifications  for  membership  prescribed  in  the  Constitution.  After 
the  Civil  War,  however,  there  was  no  question  about  this  prerogative. 


110  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

After  Otis's  resolution  was  withdrawn,  the  House 
returned  to  the  original  proposition  of  restricting  natu- 
ralization. A  bill  was  finally  drawn  up,  in  which  fourteen 
years  was  adopted  as  the  minimum  residence  for  an 
alien  before  making  application  for  citizenship,  with  five 
years  additional  before  naturalization.  This  became  on 
June  18,  1798,  the  Naturalization  Act,  which,  until  its 
repeal  in  1802,  deprived  the  Republican  party  of  its 
usual  accessions  of  foreign-born  voters.  Otis,  however, 
never  forsook  his  Native  American  policy;  we  shall  see 
his  disqualifying  proposition  reappear  in  his  Report  of 
the  Hartford  Convention. 

The  Naturalization  Act  was  a  political  manoeu^TC  pure 
and  simple,  but  the  two  Alien  Acts,  which  form  the  next 
steps  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  system,  arose  from  differ- 
ent motives.  Their  basis  lay  in  a  Federalist  notion  that 
the  country  was  filled  with  dangerous  Frenchmen. 
There  was  in  fact,  a  considerable  body  of  proscribed 
Jacobins  in  the  country,  and  French  agents  had  been 
caught  in  the  act  of  stirring  up  sedition  on  the  Western 
and  Northern  frontiers.  After  the  X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches 
were  published,  the  Federal  party  wrought  itself  up  into 
an  extreme  form  of  Gallophobia  that  constantly  reminds 
one  of  the  days  of  the  Popish  Plot,  or  the  recent  hysteria 
in  England  over  German  waiters.  It  was  commonly 
supposed  that  the  United  States  contained  over  thirty 
thousand  Frenchmen,  constantly  engaged  in  intrigues 
against  the  government,  and  ready  in  case  of  invasion  to 
rise  as  one  man  and  murder  their  hosts.  Some  would-be 
Titus  Gates  was  continually  coming  forward,  in  1798 
and  1799,  with  a  tale  of  a  deep-laid  plot.  President 
Adams,  for  instance,  was  informed  anonymously  that 
the  Frenchmen  in  Philadelphia  were  planning  on  May  9, 
1798,  the  day  of  national  fast,  to  destroy  Philadelphia 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  111 

by  fire,  and  to  massacre  the  inhabitants.^  Although  this 
FederaHst  panic  reached  its  height  in  1799,  it  had  gone 
far  enough  by  May,  1798,  to  warrant  the  hustHng  of  all 
Frenchmen  out  of  the  country.  How  far  the  paroxysm 
had  affected  Otis  may  be  judged  by  a  perfervid  speech 
he  delivered  during  the  debate  on  June  16,  1798: 

In  my  humble  opinion,  there  is  greater  danger  from  this  source 
than  from  any  other.  I  believe  that  it  has  been  owing  to  this 
cause  that  all  the  Republics  in  Europe  have  been  laid  prostrate 
in  the  dust;  it  is  this  system  which  has  enabled  the  French  to 
overleap  all  natural  and  artificial  obstructions;  to  subjugate 
Holland  and  Italy;  to  destroy  the  Helvetic  Confederacy,  and 
to  force  a  passage  through  rocks  and  mountains,  which  have 
been  for  ages  sacred  to  the  defense  of  liberty;  it  is  this  system 
which  has  watered  the  tomb  of  William  Tell  with  the  blood  of 
widows  fighting  over  their  slaughtered  husbands,  and  with  the 
tears  of  orphans  who  survive  to  swell  the  procession  of  the  vic- 
tors. .  .  .  The  European  Republics  .  .  .  boasted  of  their 
patriotism  and  courage,  .  .  .  yet  when  the  hour  of  trial  ar- 
rived, it  appeared  that  secret  corruptions  and  foreign  influence 
had  completed  their  work;  upon  the  slightest  shock,  those 
Republics  crumbled  into  fragments. 

This  general  state  of  mind  inspired  the  Alien  Acts, 
rendering  every  alien  in  the  United  States  subject  to 
arbitrary  arrest  and  expulsion.  So  far  the  responsibility 
for  this  legislation  has  not  been  fixed  upon  any  one  in- 
dividual or  group  in  the  Federal  party,  but  doubtless  its 
passage  was  suggested  by  contemporary  legislation  in 
Great  Britain.  There  is,  in  fact,  a  certain  rough  par- 
allel at  this  period  between  the  problems  of  the  govern- 
ing classes  in  England  and  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
solutions  attempted.  In  1798,  both  England  and  the 
United  States  were  threatened  by  a  French  invasion. 
The  one  country  was  at  war  with  France,  the  other  on 

*  Adams  MSS.,  "Gen.  Cor.,  J.  A.,  1797-98,"  173, 175. 


112  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

the  brink  of  it.  In  both  countries  existed  a  large  body  of 
French  sympathizers,  who  strengthened  the  ranks  of  the 
opposition,  and  who,  it  was  beheved,  were  stimulated 
by  French  emissaries.  WilHam  Pitt  met  these  difficulties 
by  coercive  legislation,  directed  both  at  foreign  spies  and 
domestic  conspirators.^  The  Act  of  Congress  "Concern- 
ing Aliens,"  in  1798,  bears  so  marked  a  resemblance  to 
Pitt's  Aliens  Act  of  1793,  which  had  just  been  renewed, 
that  one  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  Otis  and  his 
colleagues  were  taking  a  leaf  out  of  the  experience  of  the 
great  English  statesman.  ^ 

The  subject  of  aliens  was  taken  up  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  on  May  3,  when  Otis,  attempting  to 
hasten  matters  with  a  vigorous  speech,  insisted  the  time 
had  come  "to  take  up  that  crowd  of  spies  and  inflam- 
matory agents  which  overspread  the  country  like  the 
locusts  of  Egypt."  "Something  ought  to  be  done  which 
would  strike  these  people  with  terror,"  he  said  —  "I  do 
not  desire  ...  to  boggle  about  slight  forms,  nor  to  pay 
respect  to  treaties  already  abrogated,  but  to  seize  these 
persons,  wherever  they  can  be  found  carrying  on  their 
vile  purposes."  In  due  time  a  bill  was  reported,  which, 
much  to  Otis's  disappointment,  was  restricted  in  its 
operation  to  time  of  declared  war.^  The  Senate,  however, 
had  already  supplied  the  deficiency.  In  that  body  a 
"Bill  Concerning  Aliens"  had  been  under  consideration 
since  April;  it  was  passed  on  June  8  and  sent  down  to  the 

5  Cf.  Mr.  Rose's  chapter  on  "The  British  Jacobins,"  and  pp.  282-87,  333, 
349-50,  of  his  Pitt  and  the  Great  War. 

^  The  provisions  of  the  British  AHens  Act  that  reappear  in  the  American 
Alien  Act  of  1798  are  the  method  of  expulsion,  the  system  of  licenses,  and  the 
requirement  that  masters  of  entering  vessels  must  report  the  names  and 
descriptions  of  all  aliens  on  board.  The  British  law  provided  a  death  penalty 
for  aliens  who  returned  after  expulsion. 

^  This  bill  became  the  Act  Concerning  Alien  Enemies;  a  superfluous  meas- 
ure, and  never  put  in  force  because  formal  war  was  never  declared  before  its 
expiration. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  113 

House.  It  gave  federal  courts  cognizance  of  all  offenses 
under  it.  The  President  was  authorized  to  order  out  of 
the  United  States  an  alien  whom  he  considered  danger- 
ous, after  examination  by  a  magistrate.  Any  alien  thus 
ordered  to  depart  might  be  given  a  license  to  remain,  on 
proving,  to  the  President's  satisfaction,  his  good  char- 
acter and  behavior.  For  failure  to  comply  with  an  order 
of  expulsion,  he  must  be  tried  before  a  federal  court,  the 
whole  machinery  of  enforcement  being  thus  safeguarded 
from  state  interference.  The  penalty  for  an  alien's 
return,  after  being  expelled,  was  life  imprisonment,  but 
this  harsh  provision  was  struck  out  in  the  House.  Otis 
proposed  an  amendment,  which  was  adopted,  declaring 
that  an  expelled  alien  could  take  with  him  his  personal 
property,  and  that  any  property  left  in  this  country 
should  remain  subject  to  his  disposal.  This  provision 
was  so  far  in  advance  of  contemporary  European 
legislation  that  it  was  widely  commented  upon,  and  re- 
flected great  credit  on  its  author.  One  of  his  friends 
wrote  from  Paris:  "The  clause  which  you  caused  to  be 
introduced  into  the  Alien  bill  .  .  .  has  been  published 
here  in  all  the  papers,  it  is  spoken  of  in  the  highest  terms 
of  praise,  and  has  done  you  much  honor  &  your  country 
important  services  at  this  moment."  ^  As  thus  amended, 
the  Senate  Alien  Bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of 
forty-six  to  forty,  and  became  law  on  June  25,  1798. 

The  Alien  Act  has  received  universal  abuse  from 
politicians  and  historians  to  this  day.  Impolitic  the 
measure  certainly  was,  in  the  light  of  the  antagonism  it 
aroused;  unnecessary  it  proved  to  be,  since  it  was  never 

8  Richard  Codman  to  Otis.  August  26,  1798.  The  Centinel  of  October  31, 
1798,  quotes  a  paragraph  from  the  Paris  L'Ami  des  Lois,  2  Fructidor,  An  VI, 
commending  Otis's  amendment,  and  adds,  "We  are  well  assured  that  this 
liberal  and  judicious  pro\'ision  had  a  great  influence  in  obtaining  a  repeal  of 
the  Embargo  on  American  vessels." 


114  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

enforced;  but  constitutional  it  certainly  was,  and  a 
proper  measure  of  precaution  in  the  contemporary  state 
of  foreign  relations.  The  leading  arguments  presented 
against  its  constitutionality,  both  in  the  House  debate, 
and  in  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions,  are  as 
follows:  (1)  The  power  to  expel  alien  friends,  not  being 
delegated  to  the  United  States,  is  reserved  to  the  state 
governments.  (2)  The  act  was  contrary  to  that  article  of 
the  Constitution,  which  states  that  "the  migration  and 
importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States  now 
existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  pro- 
hibited by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  1808."  (3)  The 
summary  administrative  process  of  expulsion  infringed 
the  "due  process  of  law"  provision  of  the  Bill  of  Rights. 
To  these  objections  Otis  and  his  Federalist  colleagues 
answered:  (1)  That,  since  the  power  to  expel 'aliens 
resides  somewhere  in  every  nation,  any  common-sense 
construction  of  the  Constitution  must  regard  it  as  im- 
plied under  the  treaty-making  power  of  the  federal 
government.  To  leave  the  power  of  expulsion  to  the 
states  would  produce  a  strange  state  of  affairs.  "What 
will  be  our  situation,"  said  Otis," if  any  one  of  the  States 
may  retain  a  number  of  men  whose  residence  shall  be 
proveably  dangerous  to  the  United  States  .f^"  (2)  The 
"migration  and  importation"  clause  was  placed  in  the 
Constitution,  as  every  one  at  the  time  knew,  in  order  to 
prevent  interference  with  the  slave  trade.  (3)  The  Alien 
Act  contemplated  a  crime,  for  which  "due  process  of 
law"  was  necessary,  only  if  an  alien  returned  after  ex- 
pulsion, in  which  case  a  jury  trial  was  provided.^  As  for 

'  Argument  of  William  Gordon  of  New  Hampshire,  Annals,  1984.  Cf.  W.  A 
Sutherland,  Notes  on  the  Constitution,  G48:  "The  deportation  of  Aliens  is  not  a 
punishment  nor  is  it  a  deprivation  of  liberty  without  due  process  of  law,"  All 
these  arguments  will  he  fouad  repeated  in  the  various  published  defenses  of  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Acts. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  115 

the  expediency  of  the  Act,  it  proved  unnecessary,  and  was 
never  enforced;  but,  intended  only  for  use  in  emergencies, 
it  was  a  proper  method  of  precaution  with  war  impend- 
ing. Even  before  its  passage,  a  large  number  of  French- 
men hastily  left  the  country,  indicating  that  their  con- 
sciences, at  least,  were  guilty.  That  the  Alien  Act  should 
inflame  every  one  of  Democratic  tendencies  was  a  matter 
of  course,  for  it  was  aimed  chiefly  at  Frenchmen,  it 
extended  the  power  of  the  Executive,  and,  in  the  provi- 
sion requiring  the  registration  of  immigrants,  it  put  on 
immigration  the  first  restraint  known  to  federal  legis- 
lation. But  latter-day  criticism  of  it  as  an  arbitrary  and 
unconstitutional  measure  seems  a  little  out  of  date,  since 
the  passage  of  the  Chinese  Exclusion  Act.  The  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  supporting  this  recent  law  simply 
repeats  Otis's  old  arguments,  and  completely  justifies, 
from  a  constitutional  standpoint,  the  alien  legislation  of 
1798.1" 

At  the  apex  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  legislation  stands 
the  Sedition  Act  of  July  14, 1798.  No  act  of  Congress  has 
ever  attracted  so  much  well-merited  odium,  or  proved  so 
fatal  to  its  authors,  as  that  unhappy  law.  It  stands  out 
unparalleled  in  American  legislation  as  a  thinly  disguised 
attempt  to  treat  political  opposition  as  a  crime,  and  to 
stamp  criticism  of  a  party  as  sedition.  In  his  advocacy 
of  it  Otis  committed,  except  for  his  promotion  of  the 
Hartford  Convention,  the  worst  mistake  of  his  political 
career. 

^^  "  The  right  to  exclude  or  expel  all  aliens,  or  any  class  of  aliens,  absolutely 
or  upon  certain  conditions,  in  war  or  in  peace,  being  an  inherent  and  inalienable 
right  of  every  sovereign  and  independent  nation,  essential  to  its  safety,  its 
independence,  and  its  welfare,  and  being  a  power  affecting  international  rela- 
tions, is  vested  in  the  political  departments  of  the  government,  and  is  to  be 
regulated  by  treaty  or  by  Act  of  Congress,  and  to  be  executed  by  the  executive 
authority  according  to  the  regulations  established."  149  U.  S.  Reports,  698 
(Fong  Yue  Ting  v.  United  States). 


116  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

As  with  the  Alien  Act,  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  fix 
individual  responsibility  for  the  Sedition  Act,^^  but  its 
motives  clearly  lay  in  Federalist  intolerance  and  fear  of 
criticism,  stimulated  by  the  example  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment. There  is  no  doubt  that  the  authors  of  the 
Sedition  Act  desired  to  muzzle  the  opposition  press;  and 
their  provocation  was  great.  The  Aurora  and  its  imitators 
were  constantly  telling  their  readers  that  the  Federalists 
had  picked  a  quarrel  with  France  in  order  to  raise  a 
standing  army,  form  a  British  alliance,  and  establish  a 
monarchy.  General  attacks  on  the  Federalist  system 
were  varied  by  gross  assaults  on  individual  characters. 
But  William  Cobbett's  Porcupine's  Gazette  was  a  more 
than  sufficient  antidote  to  the  scurrility  of  the  Aurora, 
and  Otis  and  his  friends  failed  to  see  that  an  open  and 
free  discussion  was  the  only  way  to  meet  attacks  on  their 
good  faith.  They  were  blind  to  Lord  Bacon's  wise 
maxim:  "The  punishing  of  wits  enhances  their  authority, 
and  a  forbidden  writing  is  thought  to  be  a  certain  spark 
of  truth  that  flies  up  in  the  face  of  them  that  seek  to 
tread  it." 

Intolerance,  however,  was  not  the  sole  motive  of  the 
Sedition  Act.  The  Federalists  wished  to  strike  at  an 
aspect  of  French  policy  which  seemed  to  them  most 
dangerous.  This  was  what  President  Adams  called  "a 
disposition  to  separate  the  people  of  the  United  States 
from  their  government,"  ^^  —  a  sort  of  propaganda  that 

"  No  hint  as  to  its  origin  appears  in  the  Otis  papers,  or  in  any  of  the 
printed  or  manuscript  correspondence  that  1  liave  examined,  excepting  in  a 
letter  of  May  2,  1798,  in  the  Adams  MSS..  from  Dr.  Cotton  Tufts  of 
Weymouth,  Massachusetts,  to  the  President,  urging  that  a  Sedition  Law  be 
passed. 

12  Message  of  May  16,  1797.  Otis  states,  in  his  Letter  to  William  Heath  (p. 
24),  "The  object.  Sir,  of  the  present  Directory,  is  to  divide  the  people  from  the 
government,  and  subdivide  the  people  from  each  other.  You  are  assured  of 
this  by  our  Envoys;  ...  by  their  envoys  uniform  and  repeated  appeals  to  the 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  117 

had  been  a  right  hand  to  French  policy  in  Europe,  and 
with  which  America  had  been  threatened  in  more  than 
one  communication  from  the  Directory.  To  the  ardent 
Federahst  of  1798,  every  Jacobin  squib  was  a  manifes- 
tation of  this  "novel  and  alarming  principle,  the  art  of 
separating  the  people  of  every  nation  from  their  govern- 
ment, .  .  .  the  most  important  engine  of  disorganization 
and  anarchy  ever  invented  by  the  ingenuity  of  man,"  ^^ 
On  all  sides  he  saw  "sedition,  privy  conspiracy,  and 
rebellion,"  and  consequently  reacted  toward  the  good 
old  doctrine,  so  comfortable  to  governments,  of  passive 
obedience.  For  examples  of  precautionary  measures  it 
was  only  necessary  to  turn  to  Great  Britain.  England 
needed  no  general  Sedition  Act,  for  sedition  was  cogniz- 
able under  her  common  law;  but  the  ministry  of  Pitt  had 
been  marked  by  drastic  proclamations  and  laws  against 

people."  A  Federal  grand  jury  in  Virginia,  as  early  as  May,  1797,  presented 
"as  a  real  evil,  the  circular  letters  of  several  members  of  the  late  Congress,  and 
particularly  letters  with  the  signature  of  Samuel  J.  Cabell,  endeavoring,  at  a 
time  of  real  public  danger,  to  disseminate  unfounded  calumnies  against  the 
happy  government  of  the  United  States,  and  thereby  to  separate  the  people 
therefrom,  and  increase  or  produce  a  foreign  influence,  ruinous  to  the  peace, 
happiness,  and  independence  of  the  United  States"  —  cited  in  the  Life  of 
Jefferson,  ii,  376,  by  H.  S.  Randall,  who  calls  it  "the  first  note  of  the  Sedition 
Act."  The  same  attitude  is  showTi  by  Otis,  in  the  debate.  May  15, 1798,  on  the 
petition  of  Captain  Magnien's  Grenadiers,  a  militia  company  of  Portsmouth, 
Virginia.  The  petition,  which  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  doctrines  funda- 
mentally opposed  to  Federalism,  states:  "We  view  with  extreme  concern  the 
attempts  that  are  evidently  making  by  men  high  in  authority  to  widen  the 
breach  between  the  United  States  and  the  French  Republic,  by  holding  up  to 
the  good  people  of  these  States  the  late  unworthy  propositions  of  certain 
unauthorized  persons  at  Paris,  as  the  act  of  the  French  government,  when  in 
reality,  the  face  of  the  despatches  cannot  warrant  any  such  conclusions."  It 
goes  on  to  accuse  the  administration  of  striving  "to  involve  us  in  all  the 
calamities  of  a  war  with  the  most  powerful  Republic  on  earth;  .  .  .  and  ...  an 
alliance  with  a  nation  which  is  .  .  .  under  the  guidance  of  the  most  foul  and 
corrupt  government  on  earth."  Otis  remarked,  "The  solvent  of  sedition  has 
taken  possession  of  the  hearts  of  these  addressers,  and  alienated  their  affections 
from  their  government." 

^'  Quoted  from  the  reply  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  to 
Governor  Sumner's  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  June  session,  1798. 


118  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

seditious  writings  and  meetings,  and  by  judicial  decisions 
defining  the  crime  so  broadly  as  to  cover  ordinary  party 
opposition. ^^ 

The  Sedition  Bill  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  passed 
that  body  on  July  5  by  a  vote  of  18  to  6,  and  was  sent 
down  to  the  House.  Here  the  language  of  the  bill  was 
considerably  altered.  The  first  section,  declaring  Ameri- 
can adherents  of  France  liable  to  the  death  penalty  for 
treason,  was  struck  out  altogether;  and  two  clauses, 
mitigating  considerably  the  severity  of  the  Senate  bill, 
were  added.  ^^  Bayard  of  Delaware  was  responsible  for  a 
praiseworthy  amendment  permitting  a  defendant  to  give 
as  evidence  the  truth  of  the  alleged  libel  —  a  privilege 
unknown  to  the  English  law,  or  to  that  in  most  of  the 
states. 

One  should  read  the  amended  Sedition  Bill  in  order 
thoroughly  to  appreciate  it.  The  second  section  defines 
as  a  crime,  to  be  tried  before  a  federal  court,  the  writing, 
printing,  or  uttering  of  anything  against  President  or 
Congress  with  intent  "to  bring  them  .  .  .  into  contempt 
or  disrepute,  or  to  excite  against  them  .  .  .  the  hatred  of 
the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  or  to  stir  up  sedi- 

"  J.  H.  Rose,  Pitt  and  the  Great  War,  24,  285,  chap.  vii.  Lord  Justice  Clark 
defined  the  crime  of  sedition  as  "endeavoring  to  create  a  dissatisfaction  in  the 
country,  which  nobody  can  tell  where  it  will  end.  It  will  very  naturally  end  in 
overt  rebellion;  and  if  it  has  that  tendency,  though  not  in  the  view  of  the 
parties  at  the  time,  yet,  if  they  have  been  guilty  of  poisoning  the  minds  of  the 
liege,  I  apprehend  that  that  will  constitute  the  crime  of  sedition  to  all  intents 
and  purposes."  State  Trials,  xxiii,  766. 

^*  The  changes  made  by  the  House  in  the  Senate  bill,  besides  those  mentioned 
above,  were  not  important.  Alexander  Johnston  states  otherwise  in  his  article, 
"Alien  and  Sedition  Acts,"  in  Lalor's  CyclopcBdia,  with  regard  to  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  new  second  section,  but  the  words  with  which  he  characterizes  the 
Senate's  second  section  —  "whose  intentional  looseness  and  vagueness  of 
expression  could  have  made  criminal  every  form  of  party  opposition  to  the 
federalist  party"  — apply  equally  well  to  the  second  section  of  the  final  Act. 
The  only  essential  difference  between  the  two  was  the  lowering  of  the  penalties. 
Johnston  also  erred  in  saying  that  the  Alien  Act  aroused  more  opposition  than 
the  Seditiou  Act. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  119 

tion  within  the  United  States,"  or  to  excite  insurrections 
or  to  aid  hostile  designs  of  a  foreign  nation.  The  punish- 
ment for  these  crimes  was  to  be  "a  fine  not  exceeding  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  two 
years."  This  section  made  it  possible  for  federal  courts 
to  brand  ordinary  party  opposition  as  a  crime.  How  else 
can  unworthy  public  servants  be  exposed,  but  by  bring- 
ing them  "into  contempt  or  disrepute"? 

Otis  from  the  first  took  a  leading  part  in  the  debates 
on  the  Sedition  Bill,  and  adopted  the  position  of  the  most 
advanced  Federalists.  On  July  10  occurred  the  principal 
debate:  Otis  and  Harper  against  Gallatin  and  Nicholas. 
Otis  delivered  one  of  the  best  speeches  he  ever  made  in 
Congress,  a  defense  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  federal 
government  over  seditious  libel;  a  speech  distinguished 
by  careful  preparation  and  documentation,  and  by  sound 
and  statesmanlike  interpretation  of  the  Constitution. 
The  objections  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  bill,  he 
said,  might  be  reduced  to  two  inquiries:  (1)  Did  the 
Constitution  originally  give  Congress  jurisdiction  over 
the  offenses  described  in  the  bill?  (2)  Did  the  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution,  stating  that  Congress  should 
make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  the  press,  take  its 
power  away?  Otis  decided  the  first  point  emphatically 
in  the  affirmative :  — 

With  respect  to  the  first  question,  it  must  be  allowed  that 
every  independent  government  has  a  right  to  preserve  and  de- 
fend itself  against  injuries  and  outrages  which  endanger  its 
existence;  for,  unless  it  has  this  power,  it  is  unworthy  of  the 
name  of  a  free  government,  and  must  either  fall,  or  be  subor- 
dinate to  some  other  protection. 

He  pointed  out  that  Congress  had  already  undertaken 
to  punish  crimes  against  the  United  States,  not  specified 
in  the  Constitution,  such  as  perjury,  bribery,  and  stealing 


120  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

public  records,  ^^  In  answer  to  the  second  question,  Otis 
insisted  that  the  bill  would  not  abridge  the  freedom  of 
the  press,  but  merely  bridle  its  licentiousness.  He 
referred  to  Blackstone's  famous  definition  of  freedom  of 
the  press,  —  freedom  from  censorship  previous  to  pub- 
lication, not  freedom  from  prosecution  for  libel,  —  and, 
quoting  laws  and  judicial  decisions  in  states  which  had 
freedom  of  the  press  clauses  in  their  constitutions,  he 
demonstrated  that  Blackstone's  definition  had  always 
prevailed.  This  argument  was  illustrated  the  following 
year  by  the  condemnation  in  a  state  court  of  Abijah 
Adams,  co-editor  of  the  Boston  Independent  Chronicle^ 
for  seditious  libel;  a  case  which  showed  that  prosecution 
under  the  common  law  of  states  could  be  even  more 
severe  than  under  the  Sedition  Act,  since  the  truth  of  the 
alleged  libel  could  not  be  offered  as  a  defense. 

Otis's  speech  of  July  10  formed  the  basis  of  every  con- 
temporary justification  of  the  Sedition  Act,  and  his  argu- 
ments have  stood  the  test  of  time,^^  while  those  of  the 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions,  the  most  powerful 
on  the  other  side,  have  not  survived.  Like  every  other 
argument  of  the  state  rights  school,  the  "Resolutions  of 
'98  "  deny  to  the  federal  government  the  necessary  means 
of  perpetuating  its  existence,  when  threatened  by  sedi- 
tion or  rebellion.  In  like  manner,  Otis's  interpretation  of 

1*  This  is  the  only  weak  part  of  Otis's  argument.  Gallatin  pointed  out,  in 
reply,  that  the  statutes  mentioned  were  "necessary  and  proper"  means  of 
carrying  out  enumerated  powers  of  Congress,  —  to  establish  courts,  to  establish 
executive  departments,  —  whereas  no  enumerated  power  existed  which  a 
sedition  law  could  carry  into  effect. 

1^  His  main  argument  is  repeated  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Legal  Tender 
Cases  (1871):  "That  would  appear,  then,  to  be  a  most  unreasonable  construc- 
tion of  the  Constitution  which  denies  to  the  government  created  by  it,  the 
right  to  employ  freely  every  means,  not  prohibited,  necessary  for  the  preserva- 
tion, and  for  the  fulfillment  of  its  acknowledged  duties.  ...  It  certainly  was 
intended  to  confer  upon  the  government  the  power  of  self-preservation." 
12  Wall,  528. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  121 

the  First  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  has  prevailed : 
—  Blackstone's  definition  of  freedom  of  the  press  "has 
been  accepted  as  expressing  the  views  of  those  who 
adopted  this  amendment";  ^^  and  many  of  the  great 
commentators  on  American  constitutional  law  have 
substantially  agreed  with  Otis's  final  conclusion,  that 
the  federal  government  has  the  power  to  punish  seditious 
libel.  19 

Twenty  years  later,  when  Otis  was  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  the  question  came  up  of  indemnifying  one 
of  the  \'ictims  of  the  Sedition  Act.  Otis,  who  was  then  the 
only  member  in  either  House  of  Congress  that  had  voted 
for  it  in  1798,  took  up  the  gauntlet  of  Senator  Barbour  of 
Virginia  in  defense  of  his  old  principles.  "With  respect 
to  the  constitutional  question,"  he  said,  "I  am  content 
to  declare  that  my  mind  has  always  reposed  upon  a  single 
consideration,  detached  from  all  others,  as  sufficient  to 
uphold  the  Act.  All  governments  must  possess  an  in- 
herent right  to  punish  all  acts,  which  being  morally 
wrong,  tend  directly  to  endanger  their  existence  or  safety. 
This  power  would  be  implied  in  the  Constitution,  even 
though  no  express  words  had  conveyed  the  authority  to 
make  all  laws  'necessary  and  proper,'  to  give  effect  to  the 

"  T.  M.  Cooley,  ConsHtuiional  Law  (3d  ed.),  300.  H.  W.  Bikle,  in  Amer.  Law 
Register,  l,  15-16,  and  Cooley,  op.  cit.,  300  et  seq.,  point  out  that  Blackstone'a 
definition  has  been  applied  in  several  cases,  adopted  by  Chancellor  Kent 
{Commentaries,  ii,  17),  and  cited  in  the  recent  American  and  English  Ency- 
clopedia of  Law,  N.  S.,  VI,  1002.  Cooley  believes  Blackstone's  definition  to  be 
insuflScient,  and  that  the  amendment  was  meant  to  preserve  freedom  of  public 
discussion,  as  well  as  to  exempt  the  press  from  censorship  in  advance  of  publi- 
cation. 

"  For  example,  Bikle,  oj).  cit.,  and  others  cited  in  his  note  67;  Cooley,  op. 
cit.,  305;  W.  W.  Willoughby,  Constitutional  Law  (1910),  845.  Another  objection 
to  constitutionality  of  the  Sedition  Act,  raised  at  the  time  by  Gallatin,  and 
brought  up  since  by  historians,  is  based  on  the  principle  that  federal  courts 
have  no  jurisdiction  over  common  law  offenses.  The  objection  is  not  well 
taken,  for  when  the  courts  were  given  jurisdiction  over  seditious  libel  by  Act 
of  Congress,  it  became  a  statutory,  and  not  a  common  law  offense. 


122  H.\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

instrument.    Without  such  a  right,  no  government  is 
competent  to  the  great  duty  of  self  protection."  -° 

A  few  days  after  this  speech  was  dehvered,  Otis  re- 
ceived from  an  old  political  enemy  a  letter  that  must  have 
given  him  as  much  satisfaction  as  any  he  ever  received  in 
his  life.  The  writer  was  Judge  Story  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  most  eminent  of  commentators  on  the  Con- 
stitution. 

Salem  Deer  27,  1818 
Dear  Sir 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
package  covering  the  Washington  City  Gazette.  I  have  read 
your  speech  with  great  interest;  &  equally  admire  its  manner  & 
matter.  Such  arguments  composed  in  a  tone  of  manliness,  ur- 
banity, &  candour  do  honour  to  our  Country.  As  a  citizen  of 
Massachusetts  I  feel  proud  that  the  redeeming  spirit  of  her 
eloquence  is  heard  with  so  much  effect  in  the  Senate  of  the  Na- 
tion. 

At  the  time  when  I  first  turned  my  thoughts  to  political 
subjects  in  the  ardour  of  very  early  youth,  I  well  remember  that 
the  sedition  law  was  my  great  aversion.  With  the  impetuosity 
&  desire  of  independence  so  common  to  zealous  young  men,  I 
believed  it  to  be  unconstitutional.  I  have  now  grown  wiser  in 
this,  &  I  hope  in  many  other  respects;  &  for  many  years  have 
entertained  no  more  doubt  of  the  constitutional  power  of  Con- 
gress to  enact  that  law,  than  any  other  in  the  Statute  book.  My 
present  opinion  has  been  forced  upon  me  by  reflection,  by  legal 
analogy,  &  by  calm  deliberation.  You  may  smile  at  my  con- 
fession, which  I  hope  you  will  not  call,  as  Mr  Randolph  on  an- 
other occasion  did,  "a  precious  confession." 

The  truth  is  &  it  ought  not  to  be  disguised,  that  many  opin- 
ions are  taken  up  &  supported  at  the  moment,  which  at  a  dis- 
tance of  time,  when  the  passions  of  the  day  have  subsided,  no 
longer  meet  our  approbation.  He  who  lives  a  long  life  &  never 
changes  his  opinions  may  value  himself  upon  his  consistency; 
but  rarely  can  be  complimented  for  his  wisdom.  Experience 
cures  us  of  many  of  our  theories;  &  the  results  of  measures  often 

^°  Mr.  Otis' s  Speech  on  the  Sedition  Law  (see  bibliography). 


J 


A  SYSTEM  OF  TERROR  123 

convince  us  against  our  will  that  we  have  seen  them  erroneously 
in  the  beginning.  I  hope  I  shall  never  have  any  pride  but  to  do 
right,  &  fearlessly  to  acknowledge  my  errors  when  I  perceive 
them. 

With  my  best  wishes  for  your  personal  happiness  &  a  sincere 
interest  in  your  public  character  I  beg  the  honor  of  subscribing 
myself  most  respectfully 

Your  obedt  friend  &  servt. 

Joseph  Story. 

With  all  due  respect  to  Judge  Story's  opinion,  there  is 
still  one  conclusive  objection  to  the  constitutionality  of 
the  Sedition  Act,  —  the  extent  of  its  scope.  The  second 
section  w^as  broad  enough  to  include  not  only  libels  that 
threatened  the  life  of  the  state  and  the  peaceful  working 
of  its  functions,  but  also  those  that  threatened  the 
supremacy  of  the  Federal  party.  "It  failed  to  draw 
the  line  between  such  publications  as  vitally  affected  the 
security  and  vigor  of  the  government,  and  such  as  did 
not."  This  defect  appeared  in  the  enforcement  of  the 
law,  which  was  prosecuted  vigorously.  Under  its  cover 
several  persons  were  fined  and  imprisoned  for  publica- 
tions and  utterances  that  were  little  more  than  scurrilous 
criticisms  of  party  policy.  From  a  political  point  of  view, 
moreover,  the  measure  was  suicidal.  It  revolted  the  pop- 
ular sense  of  personal  liberty,  and  acted  like  oil  on  the 
flames  of  defamation  that  it  was  calculated  to  quench. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  portion  of  the  Federal 
party  foresaw  this  result,  since  many  Federalists  present 
at  the  time  the  vote  was  taken,  refused  to  vote  for  it.^^ 
Otis,  however,  and  the  Federal  party  as  a  whole,  were 
highly  pleased  with  the  Alien  and  Sedition  system. 

*^  The  vote  was  44  to  41,  the  smallest  majority  of  any  Federalist  measure 
since  the  publication  of  the  X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches.  Only  two  members  from 
south  of  the  Potomac  voted  Yea. 


124  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

"Each  factious  alien  shrinks  with  dread 
And  hides  his  hemp-devoted  head; 
While  Slander's  foul  seditious  crew. 
With  gnashing  teeth  retires  from  view."  2* 

The  legislatures  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  "saw  in 
those  untoward  measures  the  racks  and  thumb-screws 
of  a  political  inquisition."  ^^  In  their  famous  Resolutions 
of  November  and  December,  1798,  the  latent  doctrine  of 
state  sovereignty  was  cast  in  a  definite  formula,  in  order 
to  prove  that  Congress  had  no  right  to  adopt  such  a 
system  as  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts.  Otis  undoubtedly 
shared  the  general  opinion  of  his  party,  and  regarded  the 
"Resolutions  of  '98"  as  abominable  heresies.  The  vital- 
ity of  these  declarations,  however,  was  remarkable. 
Their  basis,  the  assertions  "that  the  Government  created 
by  this  compact  was  not  made  the  exclusive  or  final  judge 
of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  itself,"  that 
"each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well 
of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress," 
was  laid  up  in  the  treasury  of  state  rights  for  any  one  to 
use  who  would.  Otis,  himself,  was  glad  to  draw  upon  it  in 
the  days  of  embargo,  non-intercourse,  and  Madison's 
war. 

22  R.  Alsop  et.  al.  (the  "Hartford  Wits"),  Political  Greenhouse  for  1798,  8. 
"  J.  C.  Welling,  "Connecticut  Federalism"  {Addresses,  Lectures,  etc.),  296. 


J 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   REPUBLICAN    COURT  ^ 
1797-1801,  ^T.  32-36 

Politics  was  not  Otis's  only  occupation  and  amuse- 
ment during  his  career  as  a  member  of  the  Fifth  and 
Sixth  Congresses.  His  social  importance  in  Boston  and 
his  honorable  official  position  gave  him  and  Mrs.  Otis  the 
entree  to  the  most  aristocratic  society  America  has  ever 
seen,  the  nearest  approach  to  a  court  that  the  Republic 
has  ever  tolerated. 

Philadelphia,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  had 
an  undisputed  leadership  among  American  cities  in 
population,  commerce,  and  literature.  In  Philadelphian 
society  there  were  then,  as  to-day,  two  distinct  elements : 
the  one  was  composed  of  old  families  of  Quaker  stock, 
kindly  and  intellectual,  but  somewhat  rigid  in  social 
matters;  the  other,  a  liberal  and  pleasure-loving  set, 
consisted,  for  the  most  part,  of  descendants  of  colonial 
government  officials,  and  of  English  merchants,  allied 
by  marriage,  in  some  instances,  with  the  new  "stock- 
jobbing aristocracy"  that  Jefferson  detested.    It  was  a 

^  The  main  sources  for  this  chapter  are  Otis's  letters  to  Mrs.  Otis,  and  the 
manuscript  memoirs  of  a  Philadelphian,  son  of  one  of  the  persons  mentioned  in 
this  chapter,  and  related  to  many  of  them.  Born  after  the  events  described,  he 
wrote  his  account  of  society  during  the  Washington  and  Adams  administrations 
for  the  amusement  and  information  of  his  children,  from  first-hand  testimony 
of  members  of  that  society,  and  from  family  traditions.  He  knew  Mr.  Otis 
very  well,  and  was  an  intimate  friend  of  two  of  his  children.  Since  the  writer 
was  always  unwilling  that  his  work  should  be  published,  it  seems  due  to  him 
now  to  suppress  his  name.  The  manuscript  was  placed  at  my  disposal  through 
the  kindness  of  his  son.  I  have  also  drawn  on  R.  W.  Griswold's  Republican 
Court  (1855),  a  miscellaneous  compilation  of  fact  and  gossip. 


126  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

cultivated  and  cosmopolitan  group.  The  men  were  edu- 
cated usually  in  the  English  universities  or  the  Temple; 
the  women,  after  presentations  at  the  court  of  George  III 
or  of  Louis  XVI,  transplanted  into  Philadelphian  society 
the  manners  of  English  aristocracy,  and  the  fashions  of 
Paris.  Wealth  these  men  and  women  possessed  through 
foreign  commerce  and  finance,  and  they  knew  how  to  use 
it  to  advantage.  The  selection  of  Philadelphia  as  the 
temporary  capital  of  the  nation,  from  1790  to  1800, 
added  strength  and  prestige  to  this  society.  The  federal 
government  at  the  time  was  composed  largely  of  gentle- 
men; in  the  Federal  party,  which  possessed  the  Execu- 
tive, the  Judiciary,  and  a  majority  of  the  Legislature,  no 
man  not  a  gentleman  by  birth  or  education  was  eligible 
to  oflSce.  Eliminating  certain  Democratic  members  of 
Congress,  the  federal  government  resembled  a  large  club 
of  well-bred  men  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  repre- 
sented our  national  aristocracy  of  education  and  talents, 
which,  as  John  Adams  said,  will  continue  to  exist  "as 
long  as  some  men  are  taller  and  others  shorter,  some 
wiser  and  others  sillier,  some  more  virtuous  and  others 
more  vicious,  some  richer  and  others  poorer." 

The  happy  combination  of  a  national  government,  a 
Federalist  administration,  and  a  diplomatic  corps,  with 
the  cultivated  native  society  of  Philadelphia,  and  the 
constant  influx  of  distinguished  foreign  visitors,  gave 
Philadelphia  from  1790  to  1800  all  the  best  characteristics 
of  a  court.  It  was  far  more  cosmopolitan  than  the  smaller 
courts  of  Europe,  and  differed  from  them  in  that  no 
distinctions  of  rank  were  known  among  its  members. 
Even  President  and  Mrs.  Washington  were  merely  prwii 
inter  pares.  But  no  court  could  have  been  more  intolerant 
of  political  dissent.  Owing  to  the  political  bitterness  of 
the  times,  Democratic  gentlemen  and  their  families,  no 


SALLY  FOSTER  OTIS 
From  a  miniature  bv  Malbone. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  llUNOI? 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  127 

matter  how  high  their  social  qualifications,  were  rigidly 
ostracized  by  the  best  society  in  Philadelphia. 

For  persons  of  undoubted  social  position  and  political 
orthodoxy,  like  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harry  Otis,  this  society  was 
decidedly  agreeable.  During  Washington's  administra- 
tions, the  young  couple  frequently  visited  the  Sam- 
uel A.  Otises,  who  had  come  to  Philadelphia  with  the 
federal  government.  Harry  Otis,  ever  witty  and  convi- 
vial, and  his  wife,  whom  Griswold  describes  as  "remark- 
able for  beauty  and  wit,  as  well  as  for  an  intellectual 
vivacity,  tempered  always  by  an  indescribable  grace," 
became  general  favorites  at  court.  Through  Mrs.  Otis's 
girlhood  friend,  Sophia  Francis,  who  married  Otis's 
friend  George  Harrison, ^  they  became  intimate  with  the 
whole  Willing  and  Bingham  connection,  which  con- 
stituted a  ruling  oligarchy  in  Philadelphia  society. 
Mrs.  Harrison's  uncle,  Thomas  Willing,  head  of  a  great 
mercantile  firm  and  president  of  the  United  States  Bank, 
was  chief  of  the  clan,  which  embraced  the  Francises, 
Hares,  Powels,  Byrds,  Harrisons,  and  Binghams. 

Mrs.  Otis  accompanied  her  husband  to  the  first  and 
third  sessions  of  the  Fifth  Congress,  in  May,  1797,  and 
October,  1798;  but  with  the  cares  of  an  ever-increasing 
family  she  later  had  to  remain  in  Boston  during  the 
greater  part  of  her  husband's  congressional  career.  Otis 
felt  severely  this  separation  from  his  wife  and  children, 
and  mainly  for  this  reason  he  refused  to  be  a  candidate 
for  reelection  in  1800.  While  he  was  away,  however,  he 
made  the  best  of  things  among  his  friends  who  never 
permitted  him  to  be  lonely,  and  to  amuse  his  wife  he 
wrote  to  her  a  chronique  scandaleuse  of  Philadelphia 

2  George  Harrison  (1761-1845)  was  a  protege  of  Robert  Morris.  He  had  to 
begin  life  over  again  after  the  great  financier's  bankruptcy  in  1798,  and  finally 
became  one  of  the  most  respected  merchants  of  Philadelphia. 


128  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

society,  from  which  we  can  glean  many  interesting  de- 
tails of  daily  life  at  the  Republican  Court. 

Otis's  letters  to  his  wife  begin  at  the  opening  of  the 
dull  winter  session  of  1797-98,  when  everything  in  poli- 
tics hung  fire,  awaiting  news  from  the  mission  to  France. 
Vexed  at  his  forced  absence  from  home,  Otis  was  at  first 
inclined  to  be  scornful  of  Philadelphia  and  its  inhabitants. 
In  this  mood  was  the  letter  of  November  17,  1797: 

Hitherto  I  have  seen  or  heard  of  nothing  approaching  to 
gaiety  or  amusement.  The  theatre  is  not  yet  open.  The  as- 
sembly not  begun,  and  the  Ladies  not  yet  ready  to  scald  the 
beau  monde  with  hot  tea.  I  begin  to  doubt  whether  the  mnter 
is  to  be  what  they  stile  a  gay  one  —  and  I  really  feel  no  dispo- 
sition to  take  an  active  part  in  the  bagatelle  of  the  hour.  In 
short,  I  am  so  tranquil  in  my  little  chamber,  &  so  constantly 
in  it,  that  if  you  could  peep  in  &  see  me,  with  my  feet  nailed 
to  the  jamb,  &  my  eyes  fixed  on  my  book,  you  might  mistake 
me  for  one  of  Bowens  wax  figures  —  though  taking  my  flannel 
night  gown  into  view  I  think  he  has  nothing  quite  so  elegant. 

And  again  on  November  20:  — 

Although  I  have  yet  heard  but  once  from  my  dearest  friend, 
I  am  in  full  expectation  of  a  line  by  this  morning's  post.  A  com- 
plete week  has  now  elapsed  since  my  arrival  here,  and  though 
I  have  long  since  learnt  to  realize  that  my  mind  can  never  be 
tranquil  in  your  absence,  yet  I  hardly  expected  to  be  so  discon- 
solate an  old  Bachelor  as  I  have  found  myself.  The  Senators 
are  so  dilatory  in  arriving,  that  no  business  has  been  yet  done; 
&  the  city  so  dull  that  I  have  seen  or  heard  of  no  thing  that 
wears  the  air  of  pleasure  or  amusement;  so  that  I  have  ample 
time  to  devote  to  my  books;  &  with  the  exception  of  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  each  morning,  I  have  kept  my  chamber  from  seven 
untill  three  o'clock,  &  have  returned  to  it  again  always  before 
nine.  Whether  it  be  that  commercial  derangements,  or  the  ef- 
fects of  the  yellow  fever,  (which  may  be  deep  though  not  %'isible) 
have  spread  a  gloom  over  the  city,  or  whether  the  very  at- 
mosphere is  impregnated  with  Quakerism,  &  Tom  Paine's  word 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  129 

gives  a  drab  colour'd  cast  to  the  houses  and  people,  I  will  not 
pretend  to  determine,  but  certainly  there  is  less  appearance  of 
the  bustle  of  business,  and  of  the  splendour  of  fashion  than  I 
expected  to  see  at  this  season.  Nor  can  I  but  admire  the  readi- 
ness \vith  which  the  people  and  especially  our  friend  Sophia 
invent  apologies  for  the  procrastination  of  the  public  amuse- 
ments and  of  the  private  parties ;  and  if  the  winter  should  pass 
away  "^dthout  either,  many  fertile  expedients  will  be  found  to 
evade  the  charge  of  inhospitality,  &  if  every  member  of  Congress 
should  be  obliged  to  mumble  his  dinner  with  none  but  his  Land- 
lady, during  the  session,  you  may  assign  whatever  reason  you 
please,  but  the  want  of  a  social  temper  &  courteous  manners  in 
the  inhabitants.  It  is  not  however  to  be  denied  with  truth, 
that  Quaker  and  German  habits  and  manners  characterise  the 
body  of  the  Citizens.  Those  who  constitute  the  fashionable 
world  are  at  best  a  mere  oligarchy,  composed  of  a  few  natives 
and  as  many  foreigners.  Having  none  to  rival  or  eclipse  them; 
or  contend  with  them  for  the  right  of  entertaining  strangers, 
they  pursue  their  own  course  without  interruption.  They  will 
tell  you  that  they  can  give  you  nothing  to  eat  or  drink  in  sum- 
mer; because  they  leave  town  &  reside  in  the  country,  &  in  win- 
ter you  must  wait  for  their  civilities  untill  the  time  arrives  for 
commencing  the  Parties,  which  is  sometimes  a  month  or  six 
weeks  later  than  at  others,  as  INIrs.  A  happens  to  have  finished 
her  new  drawing  room,  or  ]Mrs  B.  to  have  gotten  up  from  her 
last  accouchment.  My  experience  is  yet  to  inform  me  wherein 
consists  the  pleasure,  elegance  &  taste  of  these  Parties.  As  the 
ladies  on  these  occasions  vie  with  each  other  in  dress,  I  presume 
the  eye  at  least  must  be  gratified,  but  I  fancy  they  are  often 
very  formal,  unenlivened  by  general  conversation  and  that  the 
food  for  the  mind  contains  as  little  nourishment  as  the  cold  tea 
which  is  applied  to  the  dilution  of  the  grosser  part  of  the  sys- 
tem. But  it  is  not  just  in  me  to  complain.  My  casual  intimacy 
with  a  few  families  places  me  on  a  footing  of  domestic  intercourse 
which  is  sufficiently  agreeable,  and  having  general  invitations  to 
two  or  three  houses,  I  can  partake  of  the  pleasures  of  society  in 
a  way  most  conformable  to  my  taste.  I  do  not  wish  to  enlarge 
my  acquaintance,  as  I  could  not  cultivate  one  more  extensive 
with  convenience  to  myself  —  and  while  I  remain  in  public  life, 
my  main  attention,  from  duty  and  choice  must  be  directed  to 


130  HAERISON  GRAY  OTIS 

business.  I  have  dined  once  with  Cutting  at  Mrs  Grattan's, 
once  at  Yznardis,'  in  great  stile;  &  yesterday  in  the  country 
with  Jonatlian  Williams.'*  I  am  engaged  for  next  Christmas  with 
Mrs  Powell,  but  with  nobody  for  the  Christmas  ajter  next. 
Rutledge  has  brought  his  wife  and  three  Children,  they  are  at 
lodgings;  he  has  dined  once  with  an  old  friend  from  Carolina, 
but  has  not  another  invitation  yet.  Mrs  Grattan  has  a  project 
of  hiring  the  Government  House,  for  the  purpose  of  a  Subscrip- 
tion Assembly.  Mrs.  Adams's  first  drawing  room  will  be  on 
friday;  and  afterwards  once  a  fortnight.  Mrs  Liston  ^  is  not 
yet  in  town;  &  Mrs.  La  Frery  sent  her  husband  ®  to  enquire 
about  and  after  you,  &  indeed  one  would  think  from  the 
numerous  enquiries  that  you  would  be  in  great  demand  if 
here. 

As  the  New  Year  approached  these  complaints  of 
dulness  cease  in  Otis's  letters,  for  he  was  asked  to  more 
parties  than  he  cared  to  accept.  *'The  Binghams  and 
Willings  are  civil  and  attentive.  I  dine  with  old  Square 
Toes  ^  on  tuesday — no  common  favor  this"  he  writes,  — • 
the  disrespectful  epithet  referring  to  old  Thomas  Willing. 

Another  mid-season  letter: 

My  dear  Sally  will  conclude  that  I  am  beginning  to  get  into 
a  habit  of  dissipation  or  some  other  bad  way  by  my  short 
letters.  It  is  true  —  I  was  last  night  at  Henry  Hills  with  a  great 
concourse  of  both  sexes,  who  danced  and  appeared  to  be  happy. 
I  neither  danced  nor  supped,  but  retired  at  an  early  hour.   In 

'  Joseph  M.  Yznardi,  a  Spanish  gentleman,  son  of  the  United  States  consul 
at  Cadiz,  was  a  resident  of  Havana,  and  frequent  visitor  to  Philadelphia.  Otia 
writes,  December  5,  1793,  "On  friday,  Yznardi  gave  a  splendid  dinner,  at 
which  I  was  a  guest.  It  is  said  he  has  a  very  lucrative  contract,  for  suppljdng 
flour  to  Havannah,  and  he  certainly  discovers  every  disposition  to  spend  at 
least  a  part  of  the  profits  among  his  friends." 

*  Jonathan  Williams  (1750-1815)  was  a  nephew  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and 
like  his  uncle  distinguished  in  various  activities,  diplomatic,  military,  judicial, 
political,  literary,  and  scientific. 

*  The  wife  of  the  British  minister. 

'  The  Chevalier  Cipriano  de  Freire,  the  Portuguese  minister. 
^  This  was  a  contemporary  nickname  for  old  gentlemen  who  stuck  to  the 
old-fashioned  square-toed  boots,  after  pointed  boots  had  become  the  fashion. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  131 

going  to  these  places  I  experience  but  little  positive  enjoyment, 
but  think  it  my  duty  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  fashion- 
able and  agreeable  people  who  may  contribute  to  your  happi- 
ness this  spring  and  next  winter.  Harry  who  is  a  great  amateur 
of  the  fine  arts  &  fine  women,  has  a  famous  Statue  of  the  Venus 
of  Medicis,  but  it  being  intimated  to  him  that  the  attitude  & 
native  beauties  of  the  fair  Groddess  would  beam  too  full  upon 
the  eye  he  had  her  dressed  in  a  green  Silk  Lacedemonian  Dress 
—  much  like  Madame  TaUien's  —  &  which  gi\nng  room  to 
conclude  that  more  was  concealed  than  was  really  true,  only 
made  matters  worse.  This  Evg  there  is  a  teaparty  at  Phillip's. 
Monday  a  dance  at  Liston's,  Wednesday  a  dinner  at  do.,  thurs- 
day  a  party  at  Mrs.  Miflflins  to  all  of  which  I  am  invited.  To 
some  of  which  I  may  go.  But  I  can  with  good  conscience  sing, 
"there's  little  pleasure  to  be  had  when  my  dear  Girl's  away." 
.  .  .  The  weather  grows  pleasant,  the  roads  good,  and  I  am  im- 
patient to  remove  all  obstacles  to  your  coming  to  the  arms  of 

Yr  affect 

H.  G.  Otis 

Winter  seasons  in  Philadelphia  were  gay  and  brilliant. 
Besides  the  subscription  assemblies  and  private  enter- 
tainments, each  foreign  minister  gave  a  dinner  and  a  ball 
once  a  fortnight,  and  the  President  and  married  members 
of  the  Cabinet  gave  private  and  oflScial  dinners  and  re- 
ceptions. Color  and  life  were  everywhere.  The  "levelling 
process  of  France"  had  not  yet  brought  the  dress  of 
gentlemen  to  democratic  black,  and  the  fair  women  of  the 
Republican  Court  dressed  like  the  beautiful  subjects  of 
Gainsborough  and  Sir  Joshua.  The  Due  de  la  Roche- 
foucauld Liancourt,  who  visited  Philadelphia  at  this 
period,  WTites:  "Le  luxe  est,  comme  je  I'ai  dit,  tres-grand 
a  Philadelphie,  pour  la  table  dans  les  jours  de  ceremonie, 
pour  les  voitures  et  pour  la  parure  des  dames.  J'ai  vu 
des  bals,  au  jour  de  naissance  du  President,  oil  les 
ornemens  de  la  salle,  I'elegance  et  la  variete  des  parures 
rappelaient  I'Europe;  et  dans  cette  comparaison,  il  faut 


132  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

convenir  que  la  beaute  des  dames  Amerieaines  aurait 
I'avantage."  ^ 

The  President  and  his  Lady  were  the  official  heads  of 
Philadelphia  society.  General  and  Mrs.  Washington, 
had  been  the  actual  heads  also,  but  President  and  Mrs. 
Adams,  although  experienced  in  the  society  of  foreign 
courts,  allowed  their  position  to  go  by  default,  and  were 
not  greatly  liked  in  the  society  of  the  Capital.  Otis's 
father,  and  his  aunt  Mercy  Warren,  were  close  personal 
friends  of  the  Adamses,  who  in  consequence  frequently 
asked  the  young  Congressman  to  dine.  On  one  occasion, 
after  a  family  dinner  at  the  President's,  Otis  writes  his 
wife,  "the  retirement  of  IMrs  A.  &c  gave  me  the  oppor- 
tunity for  a  tete  a  tete  with  him,  which  I  improved  in 
soliciting  for  our  Friend"  —  for  an  appointment,  it  ap- 
pears. "I  was  graciously  received  but  fear  the  applica- 
tions are  so  numerous  I  shall  not  prevail."  Later:  "I  was 
last  Evg  at  the  Drawing  Room.  It  was  the  second  eve- 
ning, but  only  16  Ladies  were  present,  perhaps  the  dull- 
ness of  the  weather  was  the  cause."  And  on  another 
occasion:  "In  the  morning  ...  I  went  to  visit  the  Presi- 
dent. It  was  nominally  grand  Levee  day,  but  really 
attended  to  by  a  very  few  persons  except  the  official  and 
diplomatic  characters.  The  weather  was  bad.  Among 
other  Ladies  was  Madame  de  Freira  who  always  talks  a 
great  deal  about  you,  &  who  threatens  very  hard  to 
notice  you,  when  you  come  next  winter." 

*  La  Rochefoucauld  Liancourt,  Voyage  dans  les  Etats-TJnis,  vi,  330.  Otis 
sends  his  wife  a  few  hints  on  ladies'  fashions  in  December,  1799:  "Wigs  are 
out  here,  but  the  hair  is  dressed  Hke  a  wig,  with  the  hair  of  the  back  part  of  the 
head  brought  forward  forming  a  sort  of  bandeau  ornamented  with  little 
combs,  some  of  which  I  will  send  you  if  you  have  none  in  Boston.  Black  Velvet 
great  coats  made  like  an  open  gown  are  also  the  rage.  Would  not  my  Velvet 
suit  make  you  one?  If  not  buy  a  new  one.  In  short  let  me  know  all  you  want, 
&  indulge  me  in  my  only  real  pleasure  that  of  contributing  to  your  wishes  and 
comfort." 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  133 

President  Adams  did  not  add  to  his  popularity  in 
Philadelphia  by  refusing  to  attend  the  "Birth-night 
Ball"  on  February  22,  1798.  John  Adams  always  re- 
sented playing  second  fiddle  to  Washington,  whom  he 
considered  much  his  inferior  in  ability,  and  he  took  as  a 
personal  insult  the  public  celebration  of  Washington's 
birthday  instead  of  his  own.  The  incident  gave  huge 
delight  to  Jefferson  and  his  followers,  who,  with  their 
usual  tendency  to  magnify  trifles,  regarded  birth-night 
balls  as  indications  of  monarchical  designs  on  the  part  of 
the  Federalists.  "The  court  is  in  a  prodigious  uproar 
over  the  event."  —  "The  late  birth-night  certainly  has 
sewn  tares  among  the  exclusive  federalists,"  wrote  Galla- 
tin and  Jefferson.  Otis  sympathized  with  the  President. 
He  writes  on  February  24: 

The  Birth  night  ball  of  last  evening  was  I  am  told  respect- 
ably attended,  the  by  no  means  equal  in  splendour  &  numbers 
to  the  last.  .  .  .  The  President  did  not  attend,  &  his  refusal  has 
given  considerable  offence,  even  to  some  of  the  federal  party. 
To  be  sure  his  apology  was  rather  formal,  but  I  think  he  acted 
rightly  upon  principle.  As  President,  he  ought  to  know  of  no 
distinction  among  private  citizens,  whatever  may  be  their  merit 
or  virtue;  &  having  never  received  from  the  Philadelphians,  the 
slightest  mark  of  attention,  he  was  in  my  mind  quite  excusable 
for  declining  to  be  the  pageant,  to  do  honor  to  another.  Many 
families  who  usually  increase  the  flutter  of  the  beau  monde  were 
absent.  The  INIorrisites  of  course.  The  Binghams  who  have 
lately  lost  a  relation,  &  the  Chews  on  account  of  a  Mrs.  Pem- 
berton  who  died  last  Sunday ;  I  am  told  too  that  the  whole  house 
was  very  damp  and  believe  I  have  not  lost  much. 

Mrs.  William  Bingham  was  the  leader  of  Philadelphia 
society  during  Otis's  congressional  career.  Born  Anne 
Willing,  the  eldest  of  the  three  beautiful  daughters  of 
Thomas  Willing,  she  married  in  1780,  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen, William  Bingham,  a  successful  merchant  of  humble 


134  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

extraction,  who  had  amassed  a  large  fortune  through 
privateering  and  speculating  in  government  warrants. 
He  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1795.  The 
Binghams'  "Mansion  House,"  as  it  was  always  called, 
was  the  centre  of  Philadelphia  social  life.  It  occupied 
with  its  gardens  and  stables  almost  three  acres  of  land, 
fronting  on  Third  Street  at  Spruce,  and  running  west  to 
Fourth  Street.  In  style  it  was  a  copy  of  Manchester 
House  in  London,  but  more  splendid  than  the  original, 
and  designed  primarily  for  entertaining.  On  the  ground 
floor  were  a  banqueting-room  and  library;  on  the  first 
story  the  various  drawing-rooms,  to  which  one  ascended 
by  a  broad  marble  staircase;  the  entire  mansion  was 
furnished  in  the  best  taste  of  that  admirable  period  of 
domestic  art.  Here  were  entertained  presidents  and  cab- 
inet ministers,  senators  and  representatives  of  the  Federal 
party,  and  the  distinguished  emigres,  like  the  Orleans 
princes.  La  Rochefoucauld  Liancourt,  and  the  sly  Talley- 
rand, who  took  a  temporary  refuge  in  America.  Young 
Louis-Philippe,  the  future  King  of  the  French,  courted 
Mrs.  Bingham's  sister,  but  old  Mr.  Willing  refused  his 
consent  to  the  match  when  that  of  the  dowager  Duchesse 
d'Orleans  could  not  be  obtained.  At  the  Bingham  man- 
sion were  held  the  "nocturnal  caucuses"  of  the  senatorial 
ring  which  in  1799  fruitlessly  attempted  to  impose  the 
will  of  Alexander  Hamilton  on  John  Adams. 

Mrs.  Bingham,  young  and  fascinating,  beautiful  and 
wealthy,  was  the  undisputed  queen  of  the  Republican 
Court.  Having  passed  several  years  with  Mr.  Bingham 
in  England,  where  she  was  greatly  feted  and  admired, 
she  imported  some  of  the  less  amiable  traits  of  English 
society.  Like  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire  and  other  great 
ladies  of  the  Court  of  St.  James,  she  besprinkled  her 
conversation  with  oaths,  and  spiced  it  with  facetious 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  135 

anecdotes.  In  serious  contrast  to  the  false  prudery  that 
draped  the  Venus  de  Medicis,  the  taste  of  that  time 
admitted  subjects  of  conversation  that  to-day  seem 
vulgar,  to  say  the  least.  The  following  extracts  are  fair 
examples  of  such  intimate  conversations  in  the  Bingham 
set  as  Otis  relates: 

Yesterday  I  dined  at  Clymers,  with  the  Bingham  and  Willing 
Party.  Sophia  not  there.  It  was  the  first  day  of  the  Bingham's 
return  from  the  country.  .  .  .  Dolly  ^  then  began  to  rally 
Clymer  on  the  subject  of  his  Stomacher,  .  .  .  and  mentioned 
that  one  of  the  British  Princes  (I  think  the  Duke  of  York)  who 
had  lately  married  the  Princess  Wirtemburg  has  so  protuberant 
a  corporation  that  he  was  compelled  to  order  a  semicircular 
piece  cut  out  of  his  dining  table,  to  give  him  access  to  his  plate. 
Mrs.  Bingham  expressed  a  hint  of  sympathy  for  the  Dutchess, 
and  Clymer  told  his  sister  Francis  that  he  should  soon  be  able 
to  retort  this  excellent  jest  upon  her.  All  this,  and  much  face- 
tious matter  of  the  same  kind  was  received  with  bursts  of  ap- 
plause that  would  have  done  credit  to  the  national  convention 
especially  by  Miss  Abby  &  Miss  Ann,  who  did  not  disguise 
their  delight  nor  their  bosoms. 

And  in  another  letter. 

This  week,  one  day  I  dined  at  Harrison's,  with  a  family  party 
and  Saml  Smith  &  John  Brown  ^°  as  Aid  de  Camps.  Old  John 
after  rallying  Sophia  in  no  very  acceptable  strain,  upon  her  un- 
fruitfulness,  by  a  natural  but  not  very  flattering  transition 
introduced  Mrs.  Champlin  and  her  want  of  prolifick  qualities 
as  a  seasoning  for  the  Canvas  Backs.  This  topic  which  had  a 
commencement  embarrassing  to  me,  whose  feelings  were  ex- 
cited for  our  good  friends,  terminated  in  a  manner  most  agree- 
able. Did  you  never  think  says  Mr.  Brown  that  Mrs  Champlin 
&  Mrs.  Otis  very  much  resemble  each  other?    Sophia  shook 

'  Dolly  Francis,  Mrs.  Bingham's  sister. 

^<*  Samuel  Smith  (1752-1839),  Representative  from  Baltimore,  later  Senator. 
He  is  the  only  Democrat  mentioned  in  Otis's  letters  as  being  present  at  a 
Federalist  dining- table.  John  Brown  (1736-1803),  of  Providence,  a  prominent 
merchant,  and  member  of  Congress. 


136  H.VRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

her  head  with  dissenting  movement.  Mr  Otis  observed  that  he 
had  not  i)erceived  the  Hkeness,  &  that  after  the  encomiums 
bestowed  on  Mrs  C,  he  should  hardly  venture  to  make  so  flat- 
tering a  comparison,  even  if  he  thought  it  just.   Oh  the  D 1 

exclaimed  S.  Smith,  there  is  no  comparison  at  all.  Mrs  O  with 
all  the  advantages  of  the  other  lady,  shows  in  an  instant  that 
she  has  all  her  Days  been  used  to  Company,  her  manners  are 
elegant;  but  this  woman  with  a  pretty  face,  has  the  air  of  a 
country  girl. 

Mrs.  Bingham's  imported  manners  and  mannerisms 
were  after  all  superficial.  She  was  intensely  loved  by  her 
husband,  who  died,  it  is  said,  of  a  broken  heart  not  long 
after  her  untimely  death  in  1801.  Although  for  ten  years 
the  focus  of  metropolitan  scandal,  no  whisper  against  her 
good  name  has  come  down  the  channels  of  historical 
gossip.  Her  eldest  daughter  Anne  married  Alexander 
Baring,  of  the  celebrated  London  banking  house.  As  the 
first  Lord  Ashburton,  his  frank  and  upright  negotiation 
with  Daniel  Webster  over  the  Maine  boundary  prevented 
a  war,  and  furnished  a  pattern  on  which  all  diplomatic 
negotiations  should  be  modelled.  Lady  Ashburton  had 
the  satisfaction  of  founding  a  noble  house,  but  a  friend  of 
Mr.  Otis,  who  visited  the  Ashburtons  in  England,  found 
her  far  from  happy.  "She  met  with  many  mortifica- 
tions," he  wrote  in  his  memoirs,  "and  from  nobody  so 
great  as  from  her  son's  wife,  Lady  Harriet,  and  her  proud 
family,  that  of  Earl  Sandwich.  I  am  told  that  at  her  son's 
marriage  she  was  not  invited  to  the  dejeuner.  Certainly 
Lady  Harriet  was  the  most  perfect  example  of  insolent 
ill  breeding  I  ever  saw,  treated  the  poor  old  lady  in  her 
own  house,  at  the  Grange,  with  great  coolness  if  not 
impertinence." 

Mrs.  Bingham's  second  daughter,  Maria,  furnished 
scandal  for  the  Republican  Court  from  an  early  age.  An 
old  beau,  who  visited  the  Binghams  with  Otis  in  1798, 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  137 

predicted  that  Maria,  then  aged  fourteen,  would  not 
"keep"  long.  About  a  year  later  she  fulfilled  the  proph- 
ecy, by  making  a  clandestine  marriage  with  the  Comte 
de  Tilly,  a  handsome  and  profligate  Frenchman.  To 
quote  again  from  the  memoirs  of  Otis's  nameless  friend: 

It  was  a  shocking  and  scandalous  affair,  and  created  at  the 
time  prodigious  sensation  in  our  highest  circles.  De  Tilly  was 
ready,  however,  to  be  bought  off.  He  was  bribed  to  furnish  evi- 
dence against  himself,  and  the  divorce  was  obtained  by  influence 
with  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  whether  by  corruption 
I  am  not  able  to  say,  but  in  those  days  Legislatures  were  sup- 
posed to  be  unassailable  in  that  way. 

Otis  commented  on  the  situation  in  a  letter  to  his  wife 
on  January  18, 1800: 

First  then,  I  just  learn  that  a  bill  for  divorcing  jNIaria  Bing- 
ham has  passed  both  houses  at  Lancaster,  where  Mr  Bingham 
now  is.  She  was  however  every  day  walking  viith.  her  mother 
while  this  business  was  pending  and  in  a  dress  which  you  will 
hardly  believe  it  possible  for  a  lady  to  wear  at  least  at  this  sea- 
son. A  muslin  robe  and  her  chemise,  and  no  other  article  of 
cloathing  upon  her  body.  I  have  been  regaled  with  the  sight  of 
her  whole  legs  for  five  minutes  together,  and  do  not  know  "to 
what  height"  the  fashion  will  be  carried.    The  particulars  of 

her  dress  I  have  from  old  Mrs.  F who  assures  me  that  her 

chemise  is  fringed  to  look  like  a  petticoat.  However  she  and  the 
whole  family  are  e\'idently  dejected. 

With  her  divorce  scarcely  procured,  however,  Maria, 
now  aged  sixteen,  had  another  lover,  a  young  man  named 
Erving,  whom  Otis  thought  "conceited,  democratical  and 
niggardly."  Here  is  his  opinion  on  this  subject  expressed 
more  fully: 

Thursday  evening  INIiss  Peters  gave  a  ball,  to  which  by  Er- 
ving's  special  request  I  procured  his  admission.  Doubtless  his 
principal  \-iew  was  to  meet  Maria,  to  whom  his  attentions  were 
perfectly  ridiculous.  He  scarcely  spake  to  any  other  Lady,  first 


138  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

he  danced  with  her,  then  sat  by  her,  then  followed  her  up  and 
down  when  she  danced  with  other  persons  like  a  shadow,  and  in 
short  was  so  absolutely  inattentive  to  the  ladies  of  the  family 
that  I  was  mortified.  It  was  hinted  to  me  that  he  has  no  chance 
of  success,  &  that  Mam'selle  is  not  smitten. 

Erving  shortly  afterwards  received  his  conge,  and  the 
interesting  history  of  Maria  Bingham  is  continued  by  our 
anonymous  friend : 

Maria  B .  afterward  married  Henry  Baring,  ^  ^  was  divorced  from 
him  on  account  of  an  amour  with  Captain  Webster,  the  son  of 
Sir  Godfrey  Webster  and  the  lady,  afterwards  Lady  Holland, 
who  was  herself  an  American  of  the  great  Vassall  family  and 
was  divorced  from  Sir  Godfrey  after  the  birth  of  her  first  son  by 
Lord  Holland,  who  could  not  take  his  father's  title.  Mr.  Vas- 
sall's  fortune  was  enormous  and  the  husband  of  his  daughter 
was  compelled  to  take  the  name  of  Vassall.  After  Maria  Bing- 
ham's second  divorce,  she  married  a  Marquis  de  Blaizel,  a 
Frenchman  in  the  Austrian  army  and  a  Chamberlain  of  the 
Emperor.  I  knew  her  in  Paris,  then  an  old  woman  but  quite 
an  amusing  one.  She  had  seen  the  world  in  many  phases  and  had 
plenty  of  anecdotes  which  she  told  pleasantly.  She  was  a  very 
amiable,  kind-hearted  woman  and  her  faults  and  frailties  were 
attributable  to  neglect,  in  some  measure,  and  the  bad  company 
into  which  she  was  thrown.  Her  mother  was  devoted  to  fashion 
and  incessantly  devoted  to  company,  left  her  daughter  to  the 
instruction  of  a  French  governess,  who  had  been  an  Actress  and 
was  probably  bought  by  de  Tilly.  Henry  Baring  who  had  no 
sense  of  honor  or  delicacy,  threw  her  into  the  most  dissipated 
company,  was  glaringly  unfaithful  himself,  and  it  is  said,  laid 
a  plan  for  her  divorce  when  he  had  fallen  in  love  with  a  young 
lady  who  became  his  second  wife.  Whether  Captain  Webster 
knowingly  lent  himself  to  his  friend's  scheme,  I  know  not.  The 
poor  lady  was  unhappy  with  her  third  husband  who  was  a  gam- 
bler and  always  in  want  of  money  which  she  could  not  supply 
in  sufficient  sums  to  satisfy  him,  for  Henry  Baring  had  managed 
to  retain  the  greater  part  of  her  fortune.  She  lived  in  rather  an 
equivocal  position  in  Paris.  She  was  received  at  the  Austrian 

"  Brother  of  Alexander  Baring  who  married  her  sister. 


i 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  139 

Ambassador's  but  not  at  the  English  Embassy.  The  public  trial 
in  England  was  a  stigma  which  the  most  notorious  profligacy, 
not  certified  in  Court,  did  not  affix.  I  think  Louis  Phillippe  re- 
fused her  the  entree  of  the  Palais  Royal,  though  this  was  prob- 
ably the  act  of  his  virtuous  wife,  otherwise  he  would  not  per- 
haps, have  shunned  the  daughter  of  the  hospitable  house  where 
the  exiled  French  princes  were  so  honorably  entertained. 

The  brilliant  career  of  the  family  in  Philadelphia  was  brief; 
from  Mr.  Bingham's  return  from  Europe  [in  1789]  with  his 
beautiful  young  wife  to  her  death  in  [1801].  She  took  a  severe 
cold  in  a  sleighing  party  where  she  exposed  herself  too  soon  after 
the  birth  of  her  son,  was  attacked  by  lung  fever,  went  almost  in 
a  dying  state  to  the  Bermudas  which  she  did  not  live  to  reach. 
Her  broken-hearted  husband  went  to  England  where  he  died 
in  1804. 

Early  in  1798,  Philadelphia  received  a  shock  by  the 
bankruptcy  of  the  great  financier  of  the  Revolution,  Rob- 
ert Morris,  whose  entertainments  up  to  that  time  had 
vied  with  those  of  the  Binghams  in  splendor.  Extensive 
speculations  during  a  number  of  years  brought  the  first 
crash,  concerning  which  Otis  wrote  in  February: 

Poor  Mr.  Morris  was  yesterday  compelled  to  surrender  him- 
self to  his  bail,  and  was  bro't  to  his  house  in  town,  with  a  design 
of  going  to  prison.  He  was  either  committed  yesterday,  or  will 
be  today,  the  Sheriff  having  kept  him  in  custody.  I  am  told  that 
his  family  exhibited  a  dreadful  scene  of  distress,  that  Mrs  M 
was  almost  as  frantic,  and  flew  upon  the  Person  who  was  his 
bail  and  who  bro't  him  to  town  and  would  have  committed 
violence  but  was  prevented.  What  an  example  of  the  folly  and 
vanity  of  human  grandeur.  But  a  few  years  since  he  was  in 
wealth  and  honor,  the  most  considerable  man  in  the  United 
States,  &  she  ruled  the  world  of  fashion  with  unrivalled  sway. 
He  will  now  probably  moulder  away  a  few  remaining  wretched 
years  in  prison,  and  her  joys  &  comforts  have  probably  forever 
vanished.  ^^ 

^*  Morris  was  forced  to  remain  in  the  Prune  Street  debtors'  prison  over 
three  years,  and  came  near  dying  there. 


140  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

The  great  man's  fall  carried  many  others  with  him, 
including  the  Otises'  dear  friends,  the  Harrisons,  who 
were  tided  over  the  crisis  by  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Harrison  to  the  office  of  navy  agent  for  the  government. 
Bankruptcies  were  not  uncommon  in  the  fashionable 
world  of  Philadelphia,  and  Otis  writes  apropos  of  another 
sensational  affair  of  that  sort  in  1800 : 

In  short  everything  confirms  my  opinion  that  the  capital  of 
this  country  by  no  means  justifies  the  luxury  and  style  of  life 
affected  by  so  many.  Overtrading,  &  unbounded  credit  are  the 
mischiefs ;  bankruptcies  &  ruin  will  be  the  cure,  &  though  I  have 
never  thought  or  called  myself  rich,  I  would  not  exchange  my 
property  for  that  of  many  who  talk  of  thousands  &  tens  of  thou- 
sands, as  if  dollars  were  needles  and  pins.  Our  friends  Willing 
and  Francis  stand  firm;  yet  am  I  glad  that  the  notes  I  hold  of 
theirs  fall  due  from  the  9  to  the  19  april.  They  owe  me  12500 
Dollars,  a  very  serious  sum,  and  such  as  I  will  never  again 
suffer  to  be  dependant  on  any  'personal  security  whatever. 

The  most  stirring  period  of  Philadelphia's  social 
supremacy  immediately  followed  the  X.  Y.  Z.  disclosures 
of  April,  1798.  Mr.  McMaster  gives  a  vivid  description  of 
that  time  in  his  history — the  patriotic  demonstrations 
at  the  theatre  when  the  "President's  March"  was  sung 
to  Joseph  Hopkinson's  new  words,  the  patriotic  dinners 
and  toasts,  addresses  to  the  President,  serenades,  and 
struggles  between  black  cockade  and  tricolor.  Otis,  un- 
fortunately for  us,  was  too  full  of  anxiety  over  a  new 
addition  to  his  family  to  refer  to  these  scenes  in  his 
letters  to  his  wife,  which  are  interrupted  early  in  May, 
when  she  joined  him  at  Philadelphia. 

The  death  of  Washington,  on  December  14,  1799, 
is  the  subject  of  Otis's  next  letter  of  this  series: 

My  dearest  friend, 

The  sensation  of  regret  excited  by  the  death  of  Genl.  Wash- 
ington has  suspended  all  public  business,  and  almost  excluded 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  141 

private  concerns.  Congress  will  be  sincerely  engaged  for  some 
days  in  paying  honor  to  his  memory.  In  addition  to  the  mea- 
sures which  you  will  see  detailed  in  the  enclosed  papers,  the 
Senate  have  also  agreed  to  wear  mourning  during  the  Session, 
and  the  walls  of  their  chamber  will  be  entirely  hung  with  black. 
A  joint  committee  of  both  houses  have  also  agreed  that  a  fu- 
neral eulogium  shall  be  pronounced,  and  the  orator  though  not 
named,  will  probably  be  Genl  H.  Lee  of  Virginia.  It  is  contem- 
plated to  turn  out  all  the  military  and  to  make  a  grand  pro- 
cession, and  it  was  proposed  in  the  Committee  that  the  Uni- 
versities of  America  should  send  in  rotation  every  four  years, 
an  orator  to  commemorate  the  event  by  an  oration  at  the  seat 
of  government.  This  last  project  however  has  not  yet  been 
adopted;  but  the  affection  and  regret  of  the  people  will  seek  for 
any  possible  mode  of  demonstrating  their  sense  of  this  truly 
great  and  irreparable  loss. 

December  26th,  from  the  House  of  Representatives: 

'  Before  my  eyes  and  in  front  of  the  speakers  chair  lies  a 
coffin  covered  with  a  black  pall,  bearing  a  military  hat  &  sword. 
The  chair  itself  &  tables  shrouded  with  black.  In  the  back- 
ground is  Washington's  portrait.  The  Members  are  all  pro- 
vided with  black  crape  for  their  arms  and  white  scarfs,  and  in 
about  one  hour  we  shall  march  attended  by  the  military  in 
grand  procession  to  the  German  Lutheran  Church  where  fu- 
neral obsequies  will  be  performed  and  an  oration  delivered  by 
Genl  Lee.  The  day  is  fine  and  the  streets  already  so  crowded 
with  people  that  I  found  it  no  easy  matter  to  get  hither. 
The  concourse  will  be  immense. 

At  the  end  of  that  week  comes  a  long  letter,  with  some 
interesting  comments  on  Alexander  Hamilton  and  other 
notables. 

I  proceed  to  give  my  dearest  Sally  a  journal  of  the  last  week 
of  my  life. 

Sunday  the  22d.  Went  to  meeting  in  the  morning  &  heard 
a  young  prig  of  a  preacher,  who  spliced  on  the  end  of  his  dis- 
course a  laboured  panegyric  on  Genl  Washington  which  would 
have  been  equally  suitable  to  any  other  sermon.  Din'd  with  Mr. 


142  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Francis,  old  Brown  eloquent  in  favor  of  the  slave  trade.  Passed 
an  hour  in  the  evening  at  Breck's  ^'  A  good  house  on  a  Sunday 
evening  to  see  strange  faces.  The  parties  are  truly  select,  being 
congregated  from  all  quarters  of  Europe  and  America.  Monday 
dined  mth  Harrison  &  Sophia  only,  went  home  early  and  passed 
the  evening  with  some  members  of  Congress  who  called  in. 

Tuesday  Dined  at  Breck's,  with  Mrs  Church,^''  Miss  Schuy- 
ler, Genl.  Hamilton,  Champlin  ^^  &c  &c.  Mrs.  C.  the  mirror  of 
nffectation,  but  as  she  affects  to  be  extremely  affable  and  free 
from  ceremony,  this  foible  is  rather  amusing  than  offensive. 
IVIiss  Schuyler  a  young  wild  flirt  from  Albany,  full  of  glee  & 
apparently  desirous  of  matrimony.     After  Dinner  Mrs.  C. 

dropped  her  shoe  bow,  Miss  S picked  it  up  and  put  it  in 

Hamiltons  buttonhole  saying  "there  brother  I  have  made  you 
a  Knight."  "But  of  what  order"  (says  Madam  C)  "he  can't 
be  a  Knight  of  the  garter  in  this  country."  "True  sister"  re- 
plied Miss  S "but  he  would  be  if  you  would  let  him!"  — 

Mrs  Church  took  me  in  her  coach  to  make  some  visits.  Nobody 
at  home  but  the  once  celebrated  Mrs.  Craig,  whom  I  was  glad 
of  an  oppy  of  seeing  &  conversing  with  for  a  few  moments. 
Went  to  see  supper  at  young  A  McCalls;  the  party  made  for  the 
new  married  couple,  Erskine  and  Miss  Cadwallader;  returned 
home  in  Bond's  coach  and  narrowly  escaped  being  stretched  at 
full  length  with  Miss  Bond,  by  the  coachman  who  was  drunk 
&  tried  to  overset  the  carriage.  Happily  this  truly  amiable  and 
well  bred  virgin  escaped  the  disaster. 

Wednesday  Christmas  day.  —  Dined  at  Aunt  Powell's,  ^^ 
with  the  Hares,  Francis's  &  Harrisons.  The  Dowager  is  really 
affiicted  at  the  death  of  her  old  friend  the  General,  but  she  thinks 
it  necessary  to  appear  more  so  than  she  is  in  fact,  and  that  she 
is  called  upon  in  decency  to  shed  tears  whenever  his  name  is 
mentioned.  She  made  out  very  well  at  first,  but  Mr.  Hare  with 
a  maladroit  perseverence  would  talk  of  nothing  else,  so  that 

^'  Either  "Greenbrier,"  two  miles  out  of  Philadelphia,  the  estate  of  Samuel 
Breck  (1771-1862,  author  of  some  delightful  Recollections),  or  the  town  house 
of  his  father  of  the  same  name,  formerly  a  merchant  of  Boston. 

^*  Nee  Schuyler,  sister  of  Mrs.  Alexander  Hamilton. 

»s  Christopher  G.  Champlin  (1766-1840),  of  an  old  Rhode  Island  family,  a 
member  of  Congress  from  that  state. 

*'  Mrs.  Samuel  Powel,  n^e  Willing,  aunt  of  Mrs.  Bingham,  of  Mrs.  George 
Harrison,  and  of  Charles  Willing  Hare. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  14S 

before  the  cloth  was  removed,  the  old  Lady's  stock  of  briny 
element  being  fairly  exhausted,  she  could  only  look  piteous  and 
at  length  begged  a  truce  of  all  conversation  on  the  subject, 
which  being  granted  she  munched  her  pies  with  an  air  of  conso- 
lation that  was  truly  edifying.  I  took  tea  at  Bonds,  where  as 
well  as  at  Mr  Ross'  I  was  invited  to  keep  christmas.  —  Thurs- 
day attended  the  procession  dined  at  the  Presidents,  sat  near 
Mrs.  Wilson,  who  astonished  me  by  being  very  sociable.  Even- 
ing at  Read's  with  the  Church  party,  and  passed  an  hour  very 
agreeably.  Friday  dined  at  the  British  Minister's  —  Mrs 
Champlin  the  only  Lady.  Last  week  Mrs  Church  dined  at  Lis- 
tons  &  Binghams  from  the  same  house,  yet  the  Rhode  island 
beauty  was  not  invited.  You  may  be  assured  you  experienced 
more  attention  here,  than  any  other  lady  has  met  with  since  Con- 
gress sat  in  this  city.  Kit  took  occasion  to  tell  me  that  Hamil- 
ton (who  cast  some  liquorish  looks  at  his  cara  sposa,  the  day  we 
were  at  Breck's)  appears  to  him  very  trifling  in  his  conversa- 
tion with  ladies  and  that  his  wife  said  she  did  not  like  him  at  all. 
He  was  evidently  satisfied  with  this  intimation.  Went  with  Mrs 
Liston  to  the  drawing  room  in  the  evening  and  led  her  in.  Both 
rooms  were  crowded  and  I  missed  none  of  my  acquaintance 
but  Mrs  Bingham,  who  burst  the  gown  she  had  prepared  for 
the  occasion  Saturday.  I  dine  with  my  father,  drink  tea  with 
Betsy  Francis,  and  have  not  a  single  engagement  on  hand  untill 
—  tomorrow.  I  might  here  add  in  a  note  that  I  have  been 
every  morning  before  8  to  Schuylkill  bridge,  and  every  evening 
in  bed  at  ten.  I  might  also  indulge  in  a  comparison  of  these 
scenes,  or  rather  of  these  vicissitudes  of  eating  and  drinking, 
with  the  pleasures  which  I  enjoy  in  your  society  .  .  .  but  I 
should  grow  serious,  and  my  object  being  to  amuse  you  in  some 
small  degree  I  forbear,  —  and  will  continue  to  kill  time.  .  .  . 

About  the  middle  of  March,  1800,  Otis  paired  off  with 
an  opposition  member,  and  left  for  Boston.  Philadelphia 
remained  the  national  capital  only  a  few  months  longer. 
During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1800  the  federal 
government  removed  to  W^ashington,  where  the  second 
and  last  session  of  the  Sixth  Congress  opened  in  Novem- 
ber.  Washington  City,  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Otis  saw  it  on 


144  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

their  approach,  was  the  sharpest  possible  contrast  to 
civiHzed  Philadelphia.  On  a  hill,  in  the  centre  of  the 
potential  city,  stood  the  north  wing  of  the  Capitol,  the 
only  part  completed;  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  west  was 
the  simple  and  dignified  Executive  Mansion.  All  else  was 
desolation:  tree  stumps,  brick  kilns,  workmen's  huts,  a 
few  mean  frame  dwellings,  a  wilderness  of  mud,  were  all 
that  met  the  eye  within  the  borders  of  the  federal  city. 
Beyond  were  the  forest  and  the  broad  sweep  of  the 
Potomac.  No  mansion  houses,  no  shops,  no  commerce, 
no  people;  luxuries  unobtainable  at  any  price;  even 
necessities,  such  as  food  and  fuel,  hard  to  procure:  such 
is  the  unattractive  picture  of  Washington  in  1801,  left  by 
contemporaries,  who  all  agreed,  however,  in  admiring 
the  beauty  of  the  site,  the  noble  Potomac,  and  the  wooded 
background.  Comfortable  little  Georgetown,  two  miles 
west  of  the  White  House,  proved  the  salvation  of  trans- 
planted officialdom;  without  the  lodgings  it  offered, 
most  of  the  members  of  the  Sixth  Congress  must  have 
camped  out  this  first  winter,  or  slept  in  the  Capitol.  At 
Georgetown  there  were  a  few  good  taverns,  and  a  small 
group  of  well-bred  and  hospitable  people,  who  did  their 
best  to  entertain  their  visitors. 

Otis,  looking  forward  to  the  end  of  his  congressional 
career  and  his  long  period  of  absence  from  his  family,  was 
cheerful  and  optimistic  on  his  arrival.  He  wrote  his 
father-in-law,  William  Foster,  on  November  25,  1800: 

We  arrived  here  yesterday  without  any  interruption  except 
one  days  detention  at  the  Susquehannah  river,  where  we  con- 
soled ourselves  with  canvas  backs  for  the  detention.  Sally  ap- 
pears to  me  in  better  health  than  she  has  enjoyed  for  a  twelve- 
month ;  we  are  better  lodged  than  we  expected  and  much  better 
than  the  majority  of  our  neighbours.  The  place  too  is  more 
pleasant  than  I  had  anticipated,  tho'  there  has  been  a  flight  of 
snow  that  would  do  credit  to  a  colder  clime  and  higher  latitude. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  145 

In  January,  1801,  the  Otises  made  an  interesting  visit 
to  Mount  Vernon,  which  is  described  in  a  letter  from  Mrs. 
Otis  to  her  sister,  Mrs.  Charles  Ward  Apthorp : 

Washington  Jauy  13  1801  Monday. 

I  received  my  dear  Marys  letter  on  friday  Evening  and  not- 
withstanding her  long  lectures  (as  she  calls  them)  I  must  ac- 
knowledge myself  much  gratified  by  the  whole.  On  Saturday 
morning  we  made  up  our  party  for  Mount  Vernon,  Mr  Mason, 
Bayard,  Francis  Mr  O.  Betsey  ^^  &  myself  in  two  coachees.  The 
roads  are  bad  beyond  the  utmost  stretch  of  a  new  england  imagi- 
nation, we  got  safe  to  Alexandria  which  is  eight  miles  from  this 
place  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  potomack  no  fine  cultivated 
growns  to  enliven  the  scene  &  not  one  decent  house  in  this  im- 
mense space  but  an  unenclosed  barren  heath  it  appears  to  me 
and  what  the  Virginians  call  Oldfield  —  here  we  were  overtaken 
by  Soderstrom,  Thornton,  Morton  (Brother  to  Mrs  Quincy) 
&  Govr  Howard  ^^  who  were  embarked  in  the  same  expedition, 
we  knew  Mrs  Washington  to  have  ten  spare  beds  —  but  as  that 
was  not  sufficient  for  the  whole  party,  we  concluded  to  remain 
in  Alexandria  on  Saturday,  rise  early  on  the  next  morning  and 
proceed,  the  last  named  Gentn  went  on  &  we  pased  a  very 
pleasant  day,  walked  quite  over  this  little  City,  which  is  the 
perfect  Miniature  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  afternoon  Mr  &  Mrs 
Callender  join'd  us,  they  are  on  a  visit  not  being  able  to  exist  in 
Georgetown,  the  Evening  closed  as  usual  with  Cards  (the  only 
amusement  here  known  among  the  men)  —  Sunday  commenced 
the  arduous  task,  nine  in  the  morning  departed,  the  first  mile 
out  of  the  city  lost  our  way  and  in  this  error  came  near  stalling 
three  times  besides  the  loss  of  one  hour,  returned  thro  the  same 
boggs  and  set  off  anew.  Mount  Vernon  is  ten  miles  distant 
from  Alex.  The  estate  is  immensely  large  and  inclosed  by  a  high 
Virginia  fence.   At  the  entrance  is  a  gate,  after  passing  which  is 

1^  The  persons  mentioned  are  Otis's  friend  Jonathan  Mason,  then  Senator 
from  Massachusetts,  James  A.  Bayard,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  WiUing  Francis 
of  Philadelphia,  and  Otis  himself. 

1*  Richard  Soderstrom,  consul-general  of  Sweden;  Edward  Thornton,  British 
charge  d'affaires;  Jacob  Morton  or  his  brother  Washington,  both  of  whom 
were  well-known  New  York  Federalists;  and  John  Eager  Howard,  formerly 
Governor  of  Maryland,  and  at  this  time  United  States  Senator. 


146  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

a  thick  wood  4  Miles  in  length :  here  we  were  by  intricate  wind- 
ings twice  led  astray,  you  will  imagine  by  this  time  we  were 
almost  discouraged  —  a  few  straggling  miserable  negroes  the 
only  moving  objects,  now  &  then  a  Mule  the  one  &  the  other 
alike  incapable  of  giving  information  in  this  dilemma.  Bayard 
who  is  patience  personified  exclaimed  "by  heaven!  this  is  too 
bad."  a  mute  dispair  seemed  to  seize  us  —  when  a  lad  more 
decent  than  those  before  seen  came  in  view,  we  enquired,  he  said, 
"you  come  wrong  but  you  go  right"  —  here  we  paused;  some 
ingenuity  was  required  to  solve  this  enigma,  finding  our  capacity 
unequal,  a  second  appeal  was  more  successful,  we  now  learned 
that  we  were  going  to  the  Mill,  but  from  the  Mill  was  a  road  to 
the  House :  true  a  very  bad  one.  this  revived  our  drooping  spirits 
—  the  safer  way  however  was  to  secure  this  guide,  which  we 
accordingly  did  —  and  at  half  past  two  surmounted  all  perils  by 
land  &  by  water  and  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  on  a  beautiful 
emminence  the  Mansion  of  the  great  Washington  and  here 
description  fails  me.  I  can  only  tell  you  tis  all  that  we,  in  our 
most  romantic  moments  have  imagined  of  grandeur  taste  and 
beauty.  I  fancy  the  soil  is  not  very  good  but  all  that  taste  and 
affluence  could  affect  is  here  attain'd.  The  House  is  antique 
like  the  inhabitant :  capacious  and  substantial  affording  every 
comfort  &  luxury,  the  wings  are  more  modern,  they  were  added 
some  years  since  by  the  General;  in  one  is  a  large  Hall  hung  with 
the  most  elegant  painting  from  all  parts  of  europe,  (I  presume 
presents)  —  himself  &  favorite  horse  not  the  least  interesting. 
in  the  other  wing  is  his  own  particular  apartments  his  chamber 
where  he  died,  his  study  dressing  room  &c  which  have  nothing 
to  distinguish  them  from  the  chambers  of  any  other  house :  they 
reminded  me  of  little  Cambridge.  Mrs  Washington  tells  me  she 
has  not  had  resolution  to  visit  these  apartments  since  the  death 
of  the  General,  she  received  us  with  the  most  gracious  cordial- 
lity,  in  her  deportment  is  that  mild  benevolence  that  serene 
resignation  which  Characterises  the  saint  —  and  she  speaks  of 
death  as  a  pleasant  Journey  which  is  in  contemplation,  at  the 
same  time  Chearful  anxious  to  perform  the  most  minute 
civility  and  unerring  in  every  duty,  the  slaves  are  for  the  most 
part  liberated  in  this  instance,  she  is  not  so  much  at  her  ease 
(as  the  training  of  a  young  crop,  we  all  know,  is  not  a  small 
taske)  some  few  quite  old  domesticks  perferd  remaining,  these 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  147 

are  almost  useless,  the  Stables  are  crowded  with  horses  asses 
and  mules,  favorites  and  by  the  Genls  order  exempted  from 
labor,  the  morng  of  Monday  was  delightful  cold  for  this  climate. 
I  arose  with  the  sun  determined  to  regale  myself  in  these  en- 
chanting walks.  Mrs  Lewis  (formaly  the  beautiful  Ellen  Custis) 
&  Bet  were  already  prepared,  the  house  lot  &  gardens  included 
cover  ten  acres  the  wall  is  of  brick  which  incloses  it  but  sunk 
so  that  in  appearance  tis  an  Open  lawTi.  the  walks  are  irregular 
&  serpentine  cover 'd  by  trees  of  various  kinds  but  what  most 
I^leased  me  was  a  labyrinth  of  evergreens  where  the  sun  cannot 
even  now  penetrate.  This  must  be  a  little  Paradies  in  summer. 
I  forgot  it  was  not  so  even  now,  seeing  the  spinach  &  young 
Cabages  growing  in  the  open  air  —  the  Kitchen  gardens  are 
also  beautifully  cultivated,  on  the  front  of  the  House  is  a 
gradual  declivity  to  the  Potowmac  &  here  the  scene  is  indis- 
cribably  grand  &  beautiful,  at  the  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  is  seen  the  Humble  tomb  of  the  illustrious  Washington 
known  only  by  the  little  willows  &  cypress  that  wave  their 
melancholy  branches  over  it.  I  walked  down  with  a  solemn  and 
awful  sensation  to  this  sacred  spot,  the  housekeeper  ofiferd  to 
run  &  fetch  the  key  but  as  the  grownd  was  damp  and  we  per- 
ceived Mrs  W.  walking  in  the  Piazza  we  declined,  she  shewd 
us  into  the  breakfast  Room,  where  was  a  most  sumptions  en- 
tertainment which  we  did  ample  justice  to  after  our  long  walk, 
our  visit  was  now  made,  but  I  assure  you  it  was  very  difficult 
to  get  away,  she  urged  us  in  the  most  flattering  manner  to  re- 
main a  few  days  with  her:  I  sincerely  regretted  that  it  was  not 
in  my  power  as  I  was  facinated  with  every  thing  about  me.  we 
dined  again  in  Alexandria  and  slept  in  Washington  on  Monday 
night,  and  now  my  dear  Mary  you  will  not  say  I  have  omitted 
any  part  of  this  rout,  and  any  deficiencies  that  you  may  name 
I  will  endeavor  to  make  good.  I  have  been  trying  to  finish  this 
letter  since  Monday  it  is  now  thursday  &  I  declined  going  to 
the  georgtown  Assembly  where  Betsy  my  Hub.  &  all  the  beaux 
are,  determined  to  seal  it  this  night,  perhaps  you  will  say  better 
for  me  when  I  tell  you  I  was  dancing  Cotillions  till  two  on  Teus- 
day  Ngt,  and  dined  at  the  presidents  today  with  30  gentlemen 
and  Ladies  a  select  and  agreable  party  —  and  tomorrow  dear 
Mary  we  rise  at  five  and  depart  for  Philadelphia  from  which 
place  I  hope  to  give  you  an  accurate  detail  of  fashion,  in  the 


148  aVRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

meantime  wear  your  wig  with  a  wreath  of  flowers  thro  —  or  a 
band  of  crape  folded  thick  with  a  long  end  hanging  down  on 
the  right  side  with  a  silk,  or  silver,  or  bead,  tassell  &  two  hand- 
some large  feathers  on  the  back  part,  falling  forward,  a  fine 
muslin  trimmed  with  a  fine  lace  without  starch  is  very  pretty 
if  you  wear  a  muslin  dress.  I  advise  you  to  harbour  no  evil  con- 
jectures about  your  sister  who  is  in  better  health  and  as  good 
spirits  as  you  generally  find  her.  .  .  . 

Otis's  letters  which  followed  his  wife  to  Philadelphia 
are  full  of  details  on  the  exciting  incidents  of  the  last  two 
months  of  the  Federalist  era,  —  the  attempt  to  renew  the 
Sedition  and  the  Judiciary  Acts,  and  the  choice  between 
Jefferson  and  Burr  for  the  presidency.  ^^  They  also  show 
that  the  good  people  of  Georgetown  were  doing  their 
best  to  make  their  guests  forget  the  splendors  of  Mr. 
Breck's  dinners  and  Mrs.  Bingham's  balls.  On  February 
1,  1801,  Otis  writes: 

Since  my  last  I  have  dined  with  Plater  and  tried  my  luck  once 
more  at  a  ball  at  Lingans.  The  Col  &  I  went  together,  and  the 
evening  being  pleasant,  we  ascended  the  rock  on  which  the  house 
is  situated  &  returned  without  danger.  Our  entertainment 
consisted  first  of  tea,  served  out  about  8  oclock.  Then  the 
dancing  continued  without  interruption  untill  twelve.  After  that 
chocolate  in  cups  with  dry  toast  was  handed  round  among  the 
ladies,  and  after  that,  the  gentlemen  were  regaled  in  a  back  par- 
lour with  a  cold  ham,  mutton  &  tongue. 

I  have  concluded  to  go  to  no  more  balls,  for  though  the  party 
here  was  on  the  whole  agreeable  &  genteel  yet  they  have  all  the 
strangest  way  of  assorting  people  in  the  world.  There  was  3 
or  4  federal  members  of  Congress,  together  with  Christie  Ran- 
dolph Dawson  Holmes  &  Van  Cortlandt,  and  I  confess  I  do  not 
enjoy  myself  with  these  people. 

The  objectionable  gentlemen  were  prominent  Repub- 
licans from  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  New  York.  It  was 
quite  natural  for  one  who  had  been  the  target  of  John 

^^  See  chap.  XII. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  COURT  149 

Randolph's  bony  finger  and  callow  invective  to  take 
exception  to  his  presence  at  an  evening  entertainment; 
but  the  only  objection  to  the  others  was  the  mere  fact 
that  they  were  Democrats.  Otis  evidently  preferred  the 
strictly  Federalist  society  of  Philadelphia. 

On  February  15,  1801,  Otis  describes  similar  gather- 
ings: 

My  dearest  friend 

If  I  mistake  not  I  mentioned  in  my  last  that  I  was  at  John- 
sons and  at  Burrows'  balls  the  last  week  so  that  you  see  the 
fatigue  of  electioneering  was  diversified  by  other  fatigue.  At 
Johnsons  the  party  was  made  brilliant  by  the  presence  of  several 
really  fine  and  fashionable  Annapolitans.  The  supper  however 
was  shabby  beyond  all  former  precedent.  A  sideboard  with  a 
round  of  cold  beef  &  a  ham  which  the  dear  ladies  were  obliged 
to  eat  on  their  blessed  knees,  presented  the  sum  total  of  the 
appropriation  for  the  craving  demands  of  divers  florid  and  car- 
nivorous animals  of  both  sexes.  Still  the  evening  was  sufficiently 
agreeable,  and  I  have  since  learnt  that  I  made  a  conquest  of  a 
very  charming  young  lady  from  the  Metropolis  of  INIaryland, 
to  whom  I  was  not  introduced  &  did  not  speak.  What  a  misfor- 
tune to  be  so  irresistible. 

We  fared  still  better  chez  Burrows.  Fine  music  &  an  elegant 
supper  were  among  the  consolations  for  disappointment  at  the 
absence  of  many  guests  who  were  prevented  by  weather.  Sally 
and  her  mamma  acquitted  themselves  in  their  most  amiable 
manner.  Huger  ^^  danced  on  his  toes  as  usual  with  every  flirt 
in  the  room,  while  his  sedate  and  venerable  lady  bedizzened 
&  bejewelled  kept  a  stedfast  and  deploring  eye  upon  his  eccen- 
tric follies,  and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  civilities  and  sighs  of 

those  who  surrounded  her.  Mrs  B took  care  to  apprise  me 

that  this  party  was  originally  intended  for  Betsy  Francis  & 
yourself.  That  the  cake  was  actually  made  while  you  were  here, 
but  that  a  series  of  accidents  foreign  and  domestic,  and  of  in- 
terferences &  disappointments  enough  to  melt  a  heart  of  stone 
compelled  them  to  defer  it  untill  this  moment. 

Thus  you  see  I  continue  to  trifle  away  the  residue  of  my  weari- 

*"  Benjamin  Huger,  a  member  of  Congress  from  South  Carolina. 


150  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

some  pilgrimage;  I  will  not  say  here  how  much  I  miss  you  .  .  7 
A  carriage  this  moment  stops  to  take  me  to  the  capitol  and  I 
must  close  this  letter  or  lose  this  mail. 

The  gallant  little  note  of  February  23,  here  reproduced 
in  facsimile,  concludes  this  series  of  letters,  in  which  we 
can  readily  perceive  that  the  removal  of  the  federal 
government  to  Washington  had  caused  a  serious  rift  in 
the  alliance  between  society  and  politics.  The  Demo- 
cratic revolution  of  1800  effectually  completed  this 
break.  No  Republican  Court  was  possible  wdth  the 
materials  of  the  Jeffersonian  epoch  or  the  setting  of  the 
backwoods  village  that  Washington  remained  for  many 
years.  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  soiled  corduroy  breeches  and 
slippers  down  at  the  heel,  receiving  the  British  minister 
at  the  White  House,  is  as  typical  of  the  new  order,  as 
were  Washington's  stately  levees  and  Mrs.  Bingham's 
balls  of  the  old  regime.  Aristocracy  was  beheaded  by  the 
peaceful  guillotine  of  the  ballot,  and  the  plain  people,  led 
by  the  apostle  of  Democracy,  reigned  in  its  place. 


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FACSIMILE  LETTER  OF  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


CHAPTER  X 

ADAMS  ASSERTS   HIMSELF 
1798-1799,  ^T.  33-34 

In  the  interval  between  the  second  and  third  sessions 
of  the  Fifth  Congress,  from  July  to  December,  1798,  an 
important  change  took  place  in  the  state  of  relations  with 
France.  The  Directory,  alarmed  at  the  unexpected  spirit 
of  resentment  in  the  United  States,  promised  to  receive 
an  American  minister  in  Paris,  and  removed  obstacles  to 
negotiation  by  ordering  the  destruction  of  American 
commerce  to  cease.  On  the  question  whether  France 
should  be  taken  at  her  word,  or  a  policy  of  no  treaty  with 
France,  and  war  to  the  death,  should  be  followed,  the 
Federal  party  split  in  two. 

After  the  three  envoys  in  Paris  sent  off  the  X.  Y.  Z. 
dispatches,  in  January,  1798,  they  prolonged  the  quasi- 
negotiations  with  Talleyrand  and  his  agents  for  three 
months.  By  that  time,  since  Talleyrand  refused  either 
to  call  off  his  commerce  destroyers  or  to  receive  the 
envoj's,  and  hinted  that  Gerry  alone  of  the  three  would 
be  an  acceptable  medium  of  negotiations,  Pinckney  and 
Marshall  decided  to  leave  France.  The  only  proper 
thing  for  Gerry  to  have  done  under  those  circumstances 
was  to  leave  likewise.  Flattered,  however,  by  Talley- 
rand's intimations  that  he  alone  could  effect  what  the 
three  together  could  not,  and  fearful  of  "provoking'* 
France  into  a  declaration  of  war,  he  remained  in  Paris 
three  months  longer,  patiently  enduring  the  alternate 
bluflSng  and  bullying  of  Talleyrand.   Finally  this  treat- 


152  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ment  became  too  much  for  him,  and  he  demanded  his 
passports.  At  this  point,  however,  news  reached  France 
of  the  rising  spirit  in  America,  and  of  the  new  system  of 
maritime  reprisals  enacted  by  the  Fifth  Congress. 
Talleyrand  saw  at  once  that  he  had  overreached  himself. 
The  French  party  in  America  was  not  so  strong,  nor 
public  spirit  so  humble,  as  he  had  been  led  to  expect. 
His  idea,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  to  make  war  on  the 
United  States,  but  to  force  it,  if  possible,  into  giving 
indirect  aid  to  France  against  Great  Britain,  and  to  gain 
time  in  order  to  secure  Louisiana  from  Spain.  He  now 
perceived  that  he  must  renounce  the  first  in  order  to  gain 
the  second  object.  Gerry  was  detained,  therefore,  in 
France,  long  enough  to  be  shown  that  the  Directory 
intended  to  mend  its  manners.  Talleyrand  substituted 
whining  for  bullying  in  his  diplomatic  notes;  he  resigned 
all  demands  for  an  apology  or  a  loan;  he  promised  to 
receive  any  envoy  whom  the  United  States  might  see  fit 
to  send.  He  suddenly  pretended  to  have  discovered  the 
piratical  activities  of  French  agents  in  the  West  Indies, 
about  which  the  American  Government  had  been  com- 
plaining for  two  years,  and  ordered  them  to  cease;  and 
the  Directory  lifted  an  embargo  which  had  been  laid  on 
American  vessels  in  French  ports.  This  change  of  tactics 
was  a  triumph  for  the  spirited  national  policy  of  the 
Federal  party,  a  complete  justification  of  its  leaders' 
claim  that  the  only  way  to  get  justice  from  France  was 
to  retaliate.^ 

Meanwhile,  Gerry's  conduct  in  remaining  in  Paris  as 
Talleyrand's  butt  after  the  other  envoys  had  departed, 
was  the  object  of  bitter  attack  from  high  Federalists. 
Gerry  had  been  suspected  by  them  from  the  first,  since 
his  conversion   to  Federalism  was  of  recent  date  and 

*  Cf .  Codman's  letter  from  Paris  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  153 

incomplete,  and  his  lack  of  judgment  was  now  ascribed  to 
"French  Influence."  John  Adams,  at  first,  was  as  much 
mortified  as  any  one  at  Gerry's  conduct,  but,  when 
Pickering  threatened  to  expose  "not  his  pusillanimity 
and  weakness  alone,  but  his  duplicity  and  treachery" 
the  President  rallied  to  the  support  of  his  old  friend.' 
His  private  conversation  began  to  show  so  alarming  a 
tendency  to  vindicate  Gerry  at  the  expense  of  his  col- 
leagues, that  the  Essex  Junto,  after  consulting  among 
themselves,  sent  Otis  to  Quincy  in  order  to  tell  the 
President  "how  much  his  frankness  exposes  himself  and 
his  friends."  ^  This  was  but  one  of  many  instances  in 
which  Otis's  superior  tact  secured  him  the  honor  of  per- 
forming some  particularly  delicate  or  disagreeable  politi- 
cal mission.  That  he  succeeded  in  this  case  is  evident 
from  a  temporary  cessation  of  complaints  about  the 
President's  garrulity;  but  it  is  left  to  our  imagination  to 
discover  by  what  means  young  Otis  managed  to  convince 
a  pompous  and  irascible  old  gentleman,  twice  his  age, 
that  he  talked  too  much. 

About  a  week  before  Otis's  visit  to  the  President  took 
place  (October  28),  Gerry  himself  arrived  in  Boston. 
"He  landed  at  Long  Wharf  about  one,"  wrote  Manasseh 
Cutler.^  "The  Federalists,  by  agreement,  took  not  the 
least  notice  of  him  as  he  walked  up  State  Street;  not  a 
hat  was  moved."  Although  feigning  indifference,  the 
Federalists  were  most  anxious  lest  Gerry  follow  Monroe's 
example  and  vindicate  his  conduct  in  France  by  attacking 
the  Federalist  foreign  policy.  It  was  thought  best  to  send 
some  one  to  fathom  his  intentions,  and,  as  usual,  Otis 
was  selected  for  the  task.  At  the  interview,  according  to 
a  letter  of  George  Cabot, 

*  King,  n,  397;  Adams,  Works,  vni,  596,  616. 
»  Gibbs,  II,  110.  *  Life  of  Manasseh  Cutler,  n,  8. 


154  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Mr  Otis  intimated  to  him  the  state  of  public  opinion  concern- 
ing him:  that  the  friends  of  the  government  were  not  satisfied, 
and  that  its  enemies  had  calculated  upon  finding  in  him  a  char- 
acter round  which  they  might  rally  with  new  spirit.  He  replied 
that  he  was  sensible  of  the  predicament  in  which  he  stood,  but 
he  thought  it  an  ill  compliment  to  his  understanding  to  suppose 
he  could  be  made  subservient  to  the  designs  of  the  opposition.^ 

Gerry  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Although  Federalist 
abuse  of  him  continued,  and  Jefferson  made  a  wily  appeal 
to  his  personal  vanity  to  air  his  grievances,  he  made  no 
complaint,  and  even  issued  a  statement  indorsing  the 
Federalist  policy. 

Shortly  after  performing  these  political  embassies, 
Otis  was  reelected  to  Congress.  His  opponent  was  Gen- 
eral William  Heath,  —  to  whom  his  published  letter  on 
the  arming  of  merchant  vessels  had  been  addressed,  — 
and  a  far  more  popular  and  formidable  adversary  than 
James  Bowdoin  had  been  in  1796.  The  usual  duel  be- 
tween the  Centinel  and  the  Chronicle  took  place  both 
before  and  after  the  election.  General  Heath,  who  at  the 
worst  was  but  a  well-meaning  old  soldier,  not  blessed 
with  over-much  brain,  was  attacked  in  the  Centinel  as 
"the  ridiculous,  despicable,  weak-minded,  weak-hearted 
Jacobin,  commonly  distinguished  by  the  appellation  of 
the  Hero  of  Fort  Independence,**  a  good  example  of  the 
insolence  of  Federalism  in  1798.  The  Chronicle  made  no 
personal  attack  on  Otis,  but  charged  upon  the  Sedition 
Law  and  the  Direct  Tax,  which  over  half  the  Republicans 
had  voted  for,  and  endeavored  to  turn  to  advantage  the 
rural  prejudice  against  lawyers.  It  was  argued  that  there 
were  too  many  lawyers  in  Congress,  that  the  Sedition 
Act  and  the  "land  tax'*  were  adopted  by  lawyers  in 
order  to  make  more  business  for  themselves.  Let  the 
yeomanry  go  to  the  polls,  and  outvote  the  foreigners  and 

6  H.  C.  Lodge,  Cabot,  179. 


i 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  155 

negroes  who  secured  a  majority  for  Ames  and  Otis  in 
former  elections.^  The  popularity  of  the  Federahst  for- 
eign pohcy  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  no  one  ventured  to 
attack  that  phase  of  Otis's  activity,  beyond  the  state- 
ment that  his  calhng  Frenchmen  "pyrates,  rogues,  etc.," 
was  a  bar  to  negotiation.  General  Heath's  candidature 
was  even  announced  in  one  instance  as  that  of  a  "Con- 
stitutional Federalist."  ^ 

In  the  electioneering  Otis  took  no  part.  Happily  for 
the  peace  of  mind  and  the  pocketbook  of  a  candidate  in 
those  days,  any  active  participation  in  his  own  campaign 
was  considered  highly  improper.  But  that  zealous  efforts 
were  made  on  both  sides,  is  indicated  by  the  size  of  the 
vote,  which  was  twenty-seven  per  cent  greater  than  that 
of  1796,  a  presidential  year.  All  the  increase  in  Boston 
went  to  Otis,  but  in  the  rural  part  of  the  district  General 
Heath  polled  more  than  twice  as  many  votes  as  his 
opponent.  The  Chronicle's  campaign  against  lawyers 
and  the  "land  tax"  was  evidently  effective. 

Political  intolerance  was  fast  becoming  a  leading  char- 
acteristic of  the  entire  Federal  party.  Otis,  during  the 
winter  session  of  Congress,  led  an  attack  on  Dr.  Logan,  a 
Philadelphia  Quaker  and  Democrat  who  had  gone  on  a 
secret  mission  to  France  in  order  to  prevent  war.^  Luck- 
ily for  him,  the  ex  "post  facto  provision  in  the  Constitution 
shielded  him  from  punishment,  but  no  mercy  was  shown 
to  persons  who  made  themselves  amenable  to  the  Sedition 

'  Chronicle,  November  1  and  5,  1798. 

^  Chronicle,  November  5.  In  Newark,  New  Jersey,  the  Democrats  an- 
nounced their  own  nominations  as  the  "Federal  Republican  Ticket,"  and  those 
of  the  Federalists  as  the  "  Federal  Aristocratic  Ticket."  Chronicle,  October  22. 
Ten  years  later  the  tables  were  turned,  and  Federalist  tickets  were  concealed 
under  such  names  as  "American,"  "True  Republican,"  "Anti-Embargo,"  etc. 

^  See  letter  of  Joseph  Woodward,  at  end  of  chapter,  for  Otis's  part  in  the 
Logan  aSair. 


156  HiVRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Law.  Federal  judges  enforced  it  rigorously,  and  stimu- 
lated grand  juries  to  present  cases.  The  first  victim  was 
Matthew  Lyon,  "the  beast,"  the  hero  of  the  spitting 
episode  in  Congress.  He  was  convicted,  fined,  and  im- 
prisoned for  charging  the  President,  among  other  things, 
with  "  unbounded  thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp,  foolish  adu- 
lation, and  selfish  avarice."  One  Baldwin  of  Newark  was 
fined  one  hundred  dollars  for  expressing  the  wish  that 
the  wadding  of  a  cannon,  discharged  in  honor  of  the 
President  while  passing  through  that  town,  might  find 
lodgment  in  his  posterior.  John  Lovejoy  of  Dedham  was 
committed  to  jail  for  erecting  a  liberty  pole  with  the 
inscription  — 

Liberty  and  Equality! 

The  Vice  President  and  the  Minority! 

A  Speedy  Retirement  to  the  President ! 

No  Sedition  Bill!   No  Alien  Bill! 
Downfall  to  the  Tyrants  of  America !  ^ 

This  persecution  extended  even  into  the  affairs  of  private 
life.  To  quote  a  contemporary:  "Friendships  were  dis- 
solved, tradesmen  dismissed,  and  custom  withdrawn  from 
the  Republican  party,  the  heads  of  which,  as  objects  of 
the  most  injurious  suspicion,  were  recommended  to  be 
closely  watched,  and  committees  of  Federalists  were  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose."  ^° 

This  whole  phase  of  Federalist  policy  shows  the  party's 
fundamental  defect,  —  a  disregard  of  popular  ideas  and 
opinions;  a  policy  suicidal  to  a  party  that  had  to  depend 
for  its  support  on  the  people's  suffrage.  John  Marshall, 
alone  among  prominent  Federalists,  dared  publicly  to 

*  RusscWs  Gazette,  April  1,  1799.  Fisher  Ames  complained  of  the  "tardiness 
and  apathy  on  the  part  of  the  government,  in  avenging  this  insult  on  law.  .  .  . 
The  government  must  display  its  power,  in  terrorem,  or,  if  that  be  neglected  or 
delayed,  in  earnest."   Works,  i,  247. 

"  Deborah  Logan,  Memoir  of  Dr.  George  Logan,  54-55. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  157 

express  his  disapproval  of  the  Sedition  Act.  For  this 
independence  of  mind  he  received  the  unquahfied  denun- 
ciation of  the  Eastern  party  leaders.  "Otis  .  .  .  condemns 
him  ore  rotundo,^*  wrote  Fisher  Ames;  "False  federalists, 
or  such  as  act  wrong  from  false  fears,  should  be  dealt 
hardly  by,  were  I  Jupiter  Tonans."  "What  does  he 
mean?"  inquired  another  member  of  the  Junto.  "I 
sometimes  have  been  led  to  think  that  some  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Federalists  are  little  better  than  half-way  Jac- 
obins." ^^  If  dislike  of  the  Sedition  Act  was  to  be  the 
test  of  Jacobinism,  then  most  assuredly  a  majority  of  the 
American  people  were  half-way,  if  not  fully,  Jacobins. 

Meanwhile,  the  Federal  party  was  gradually  being 
shifted  into  two  rival  factions.  Their  nuclei  had  been 
formed  years  before,  in  the  personal  rivalry  and  mutual 
distrust  that  existed  between  John  Adams  and  Alexander 
Hamilton.  The  President,  who  always  had  regarded 
Hamilton  as  an  impudent  upstart,  resented  the  respect 
accorded  his  opinion  in  the  Federal  party;  Hamilton,  on 
the  other  hand,  considered  Adams  a  vain  and  pompous 
old  man,  totally  unfit  for  his  high  position.  During  the 
election  of  1796,  he  publicly  announced  his  desire  that 
Thomas  Pinckney  should  be  brought  in  as  president  over 
Adams's  head,  contrary  to  the  express  agreement  of  the 
party  caucus. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  later,  when  he  was  eighty-seven 
years  old,  John  Adams  wrote  Otis  a  number  of  letters  on 
the  events  of  1798  and  1799.  In  the  concluding  letter  of 
the  series  he  remarked,  "the  amount  of  my  former  letters 
to  you  is  this;  that  all  the  sovereignty  then  existing  in  the 
nation  was  in  the  hands  of  Alexander  Hamilton."  The 
old  gentleman  here  describes  the  exact  state  of  affairs. 
At  no  period  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  has  one 

"  H.  C.  Lodge,  Cabot,  179. 


158  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

man  possessed  so  potent  an  influence  over  the  federal 
government  as  Alexander  Hamilton  exerted  during 
Washington's  second  administration,  and  the  first  half 
of  his  successor's.  John  Adams  was  susceptible  to  in- 
fluence, when  skillfully  handled  and  flattered,  and  he 
made  an  initial  mistake  in  taking  over  Washington's 
Cabinet,  which  contained  three  men,  Timothy  Pickering, 
Oliver  Wolcott,  and  James  McHenry,  devoted  to  Hamil- 
ton and  used  to  taking  orders  from  him.  The  President's 
opening  address  to  the  Fifth  Congress  was  an  unconscious 
echo  of  Hamilton's  suggestions  to  the  Cabinet.  In  a  sim- 
ilar manner,  all  important  steps  in  executive  policy, 
during  the  first  two  years  of  Adams's  administration, 
originated  in  Hamilton's  brain.  General  Washington,  the 
lieutenant-general  of  the  army,  deferred  to  him  in  all 
things,  and  his  influence  helped  to  force  Hamilton's 
policies  on  the  President.  Said  the  victim  of  this  system 
to  Otis,  after  twenty-five  years,  "I  cannot  review  that 
tragicomic  farce,  grave  as  it  was  to  me,  without  laughing. 
I  was  as  President  a  mere  cipher,  the  government  was  in 
the  hands  of  an  oligarchy  consisting  of  a  triumvirate  who 
governed  every  one  of  my  five  ministers;  both  houses  of 
Congress  were  under  their  absolute  direction." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  third  session  of  the  Fifth  Con- 
gress, in  December,  1798,  Otis's  experience  and  ability 
were  recognized  by  an  appointment  to  the  important 
position  of  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Defense.  The 
following  letter,  which  he  wrote  to  Hamilton  a  few  days 
after  this  event,  shows  that  he,  too,  was  completely  un- 
der Hamilton's  influence. 

Philadelphia,  Dec.  21,  1798. 
Sir: 

I  was  very  solicitous  while  you  were  in  the  city  for  the  in- 
dulgence of  an  interview  with  you,  that  would  have  enabled 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  159 

me  to  learn  your  opinion  in  relation  to  such  defensive  measures 
as  ought  now  to  be  adopted  by  Congress;  and  I  called  upon  you 
once  with  that  view;  but  being  then  disappointed  and  perceiv- 
ing afterwards  the  pressing  nature  of  your  immediate  avoca- 
tions, I  chose  rather  to  forego  the  advantage  of  your  sentiments, 
than  invade  the  little  leisure  you  appeared  able  to  command. 
Being  since  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  to  consider  the 
policy  of  extending  our  internal  means  of  defence,  the  great  con- 
fidence which  I  feel  in  the  correctness  of  your  political  opinions, 
and  your  permission  on  a  former  occasion  to  avail  myself  of 
them,  induce  me  to  request  that  I  may  be  honoured  with  your 
general  ideas  upon  this  subject,  if  you  can  without  inconven- 
ience devote  an  hour  to  my  instruction.  In  particular,  is  it  ad- 
visable to  augment  the  present  permanent  army  under  all  cir- 
cumstances? If  not,  would  it  be  eligible  to  reduce  the  number 
of  men  in  each  regiment,  with  a  view  to  economy,  and  to  an 
application  of  the  money  saved  to  the  extension  of  the  naval 
armament?  or  are  there  any  prominent  defects  in  the  military 
establishment  which  demand  a  reform? 

Will  there  be  any  utility  in  reviving  the  section  of  the  act 
which  establishes  the  provisional  army,  or  the  act  for  provid- 
ing for  the  draft  of  80,000  militia? 

Does  good  policy  demand  very  liberal  grants  of  money  for 
fortifications? 

Is  it  expedient  to  continue  the  act  prohibiting  intercourse 
with  France  and  her  acknowledged  dominions?  If  so,  as  the 
act  now  stands,  may  commerce  be  carried  on  between  the 
United  States  and  any  part  of  the  French  dominions  that  shall 
withdraw  from  its  allegiance  to  the  parent  country?  or,  if  this  be 
doubtful,  would  it  be  politic  to  grant  an  express  commission 
to  the  President  to  open  the  trade  with  any  part  of  the  French 
dominions,  when,  in  his  opinion,  the  public  good  would  admit 
or  require  it? 

Shall  the  President  be  authorized  to  attack,  capture,  and  hold 
all  or  any  of  the  French  West  India  islands  as  an  indemnity  for 
the  spoliations  committed  on  our  trade? 

If  on  this,  or  any  other  subjects,  you  see  fit  to  gratify  me  with 
your  opinions,  they  will  be  cherished  and  respected  by  me  with- 
out a  disclosure  of  the  source  from  which  they  are  derived ;  and 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  you  think  this  liberty  is  not  warranted 


160  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

by  the  duration  or  intimacy  of  my  personal  acquaintance, 
you  will,  I  hope,  excuse  and  impute  it  to  an  habitual  and  pro- 
found respect  for  your  character  and  talents. 
I  am,  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 
H.  G.  Otis.12 

This  unhealthy  state  of  affairs  could  endure  only  by 
the  President's  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  he  was  being 
led.  Down  to  June,  1798,  he  was  wholly  unsuspicious; 
but  that  summer  arose  the  complication  about  major- 
generals,  which  opened  his  eyes.  This  incident  need  not 
detain  us  here;  suffice  it  to  say  that  Adams  wished  to 
give  the  three  major-generals  of  the  new  army,  Knox, 
Pinckney,  and  Hamilton,  the  priority  of  rank  that  they 
possessed  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  which  would  have 
placed  Hamilton  at  the  foot,  and  that  Hamilton  and  his 
friends  in  the  Cabinet,  who  wished  him  to  be  virtual 
commander-in-chief,  used  all  their  efforts  to  have  the  old 
order  rescinded  in  his  favor.  After  General  Washington 
had  used  his  influence  in  this  direction,  the  President 
sulkily  complied,  but,  as  he  wrote  McHenry,  "there 
has  been  too  much  intrigue  in  this  business."  From  that 
point  began  the  parting  of  the  ways  between  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Hamiltonian  wing  of  his  party. 

During  the  third  session  of  the  Fifth  Congress,  from 
December,  1798,  to  March,  1799,  Otis,  as  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Defense,  recommended  to  Congress 
the  measures  that  Hamilton  desired,  and  secured  the 
passage  of  most  of  them.^^  It  was  also  during  this  session 
that  the  Federal  party  was  given  an  opportunity  to  show 
that  it  could  repel  aggression  from  England  as  well  as 
from  France.  In  November,  1798,  Captain  Loring,  of  the 

12  Reprinted  from  Hamilton,  Works,  vi,  377. 

"  Hamilton's  replies  to  Otis's  letter  of  December  21  are  printed  in  his 
Works,  VI,  379,  390. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  161 

British  frigate  Carnatic,  boarded  the  American  twenty- 
gun  ship  Baltimore,  took  off  fifty-five  of  the  crew,  and 
impressed  five  of  them.  It  was  a  worse  outrage  than 
the  Chesapeake  affair  of  1807,  but  it  attracted  less  in- 
terest on  account  of  the  naval  war  with  France  that 
was  going  on.  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  on 
December  31,  1798,  Otis  proposed  a  resolve,  calling  for 
information  concerning  the  assault,  "as  we  think  it 
necessary  to  show  Great  Britain  and  the  world  that  in- 
stances of  abuse  of  this  kind  excite  a  lively  sensibility, 
and  that  we  are  determined  to  protect  our  flag  against 
any  country  whatever."  A  vigorous  protest  was  made 
by  the  State  Department,  and  the  British  government 
apologized. 

The  most  interesting  problem,  however,  of  this  winter 
session  was  the  question  of  how  to  treat  the  changed 
policy  of  France.  It  proved  to  be  a  rock  on  which  the 
Federal  party  split.  In  his  annual  address  of  December 
8,  1798,  the  President  indicated  that  his  mind  was 
favorably  inclined  toward  the  friendly  advances  of 
Talleyrand.  This  attitude  aroused  violent  indignation 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Hamiltonian  Junto,  for  accommoda- 
tion with  France  was  no  part  of  their  system.  Hamilton 
and  his  friends  considered  the  French  overtures  as  fur- 
ther evidence  of  duplicity.  Stephen  Higginson,  of  the 
Essex  Junto,  wanted  a  headlong  plunge  into  the  Euro- 
pean political  system,  a  British  alliance,  and  a  treaty  of 
guarantee  at  the  end  of  the  war;^^  Hamilton  wrote  Otis, 
and  other  members  of  Congress,  demanding  war  with 
France  by  the  summer,  a  permanent  standing  army,  and 
an  attack  on  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  South  America. 
He  was  then  coquetting  with  Francisco  de  Miranda's 
gigantic  project  for  the  liberation  of  Spanish  America  by 

"  1896  Reports  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  i,  817,  819,  821. 


162  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

an  American  army  and  a  British  fleet,  with  Louisiana 
and  Florida  a  share  for  the  United  States  in  the  plunder. 

Hamilton's  schemes  might  to-day  be  regarded  re- 
spectfully if  Napoleon  had  not  seen  fit,  in  1803,  to  toss  us 
Louisiana,  "as  a  sultan  throws  a  purse  of  gold  to  a 
favorite."  Talleyrand's  overtures  were  sincere  in  that 
he  wished  to  avoid  war,  and  was  willing  to  renounce  the 
hope  of  a  loan  or  a  secret  alliance.  They  were  insincere 
in  that  one  of  his  reasons  for  avoiding  war  was  a  desire 
to  gain  time  for  the  peaceful  acquisition  of  Louisiana. 
Even  Thomas  Jefferson  could  write,  when  he  heard  of 
the  success  of  this  policy  in  1802,  "The  day  that  France 
takes  possession  of  New  Orleans,  ...  we  must  marry 
ourselves  to  the  British  fleet  and  nation."  Yet  in  1798 
Hamilton's  design  was  impossible  to  accomplish.  The 
United  States  was  no  field  for  the  Old-World  policy  of 
foreign  war  to  quell  domestic  discontent.  Well  might 
Adams  feel,  as  he  wrote  Otis,  "this  man  is  stark  mad,  or 
I  am.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  character,  the  principles, 
the  feelings,  the  opinions  and  prejudices  of  this  nation. 
If  Congress  should  adopt  this  system,  it  would  produce 
an  instantaneous  insurrection  of  the  whole  nation  from 
Georgia  to  New  Hampshire."  One  needs  only  to  read  the 
Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions  of  1798,  to  perceive 
that  such  a  plan  as  Hamilton's  would  not  have  been 
supported  six  months  by  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Hamilton  and  the  Cabinet,  then,  decided  to  treat 
Talleyrand's  overtures  as  insincere,  and  declare  war  on 
France.  They  counted  as  usual  on  the  acquiescence  of  the 
President,  for,  in  spite  of  his  peaceful  message  of  Decem- 
ber 8,  he  permitted  Pickering,  during  the  following  month, 
to  issue  as  a  state  paper  a  pungent  analysis  of  the  Talley- 
rand-Gerry correspondence,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
expose  the  French  statesman's  insincerity.  Shortly  after 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  163 

this,  however,  there  suddenly  dawned  on  John  Adams 
the  extent  to  which  he  had  been  led  by  Hamilton  and 
the  cabinet  cabal.  Convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  the 
French  desired  peace,  and  determined  henceforth  to  be 
President  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name,  he  sent  to  the  Senate 
on  February  18,  1799,  a  message  that  sent  Hamilton's 
dreams  of  glory  to  the  limbo  of  shattered  ambitions. 
This  message,  which  arrived  like  a  projectile  out  of  a 
clear  sky,  was  the  nomination  of  a  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary to  the  French  Republic. 

The  President's  policy  was  undoubtedly  right,  but  his 
manner  of  carrying  it  out  was  a  typical  instance  of  his 
tactlessness.  He  had  taken  this  radical  departure  in 
foreign  policy  without  consulting  a  single  member  of  the 
Cabinet.  No  wonder,  then,  that  Hamilton  and  his  power- 
ful following  smelt  treachery  in  the  act.  Words  cannot 
describe  the  feelings  of  mingled  rage,  astonishment,  and 
disappointment  with  which  they  received  it.^^  They 
controlled  the  majority  in  the  Senate,  but,  conscious  that 
public  opinion  would  side  with  the  President,  they  dared 
not  reject  his  nomination.  A  compromise,  however,  was 
effected ;  the  Senate  agreed  to  confirm  a  peace  commission 
of  three,  instead  of  a  single  envoy,  and  the  President 
promised  not  to  send  them  to  France  until  the  French 
government  sent  unequivocal  assurances  that  they 
would  be  properly  received. 

The  attitude  of  Otis  on  this  momentous  occasion  was 
wise  and  moderate.  That  he  deplored  as  much  as  any 
one  the  President's  action,  is  evident  from  his  correspon- 
dence.^^  Otis  was  too  much  under  Hamilton's  influence 

^^  The  tense  feeling  at  Philadelphia  is  well  illustrated  by  a  graphic  descrip- 
tion of  a  dinner  at  the  President's,  in  a  letter  he  wrote  Otis  a  half-century  later. 
Printed  at  end  of  this  chapter. 

^^  "And  well  may  you  be  in  aflBiction,"  etc.,  in  Mason's  letter  of  February 
27,  1799,  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


164  H.VRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

to  view  the  inception  of  negotiations  with  France  other- 
wise than  as  a  calamity.  Yet  his  poHtical  commonsense 
taught  him  what  Hamilton  and  his  more  ardent  followers 
utterly  failed  to  see,  that  the  only  course  now  open  to  the 
Federal  party  was  to  follow  where  the  President  led.^^ 
Any  attempt  to  thwart  him  would  render  the  dangerous 
rift  in  the  party  permanent  and  irreparable.  Most  Feder- 
alists thought  as  Otis  did,^^  but  a  real  danger  to  party 
harmony  lay  in  the  headstrong  intolerance  of  Hamilton 
and  the  Essex  Junto. 

Otis  did  his  best  to  preserve  harmony  and  gain  ad- 
herents to  the  President's  policy  by  writing  a  series  of 
articles  addressed  to  the  inflexible  anti-gall icans  in  his 
party.  They  were  published  anonj^mously  under  the 
heading  "The  Envoy"  in  RusseWs  Gazette,  early  in 
April,  1799.  He  begins  by  stating  that  the  most  "respect- 
able and  patriotic  characters,"  who  have  followed  French 
policy  in  Europe,  feel  that  "Gallic  faith  affords  no  basis 
for  a  safe  or  advantageous  treaty,"  and  desire  helium 
usque  ad  internecionem.  But  although  their  fears  may 
be  well  founded,  and  although  "a  continued  exertion  and 
display  of  our  energies  might  invigorate  the  tone  of  the 
government  .  .  .  and  increase  our  importance  in  the  esti- 

^^  Stephen  Higginson  wrote  Timothy  Pickering  from  Boston,  March  24, 
1799:  "Mr.  Ames,  Cabot  and  myself  were  at  Jona  Masons,  where  we  had  a  free 
conversation  with  Otis,  Lee  of  the  Maine,  and  Gordon  of  N:  H:  on  the  subject 
of  the  late  mission.  Otis  professes  to  think  of  the  measure  as  we  have  all  done, 
he  views  it,  he  says,  as  an  unfortunate  injudicious  One,  tending  to  induce  great 
Evils,  and  incapable  of  effecting  any  good;  but  he  is  evidently  disposed  to 
palliate  and  soften  as  much  as  possible.  ...  he  will  deprecate  and  oppose  any- 
thing like  a  disapprobation  of  the  measure;  but  has  pledged  himself  not  to 
approve,  he  will  be  for  avoiding  both,  and  will  pass  unnoticed  expressions 
which  may  call  for  attention,  a  conduct  which  will  be  construed  into  a  tacit 
approbation,  and  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  combined  powers,  while  it  divides 
the  federalists  and  strengthens  the  Jacobins."  1S9G  Report  oj  the  American 
Hiitorical  AssnciaHon,  i,  832. 

1^  All  but  two  Federalist  newspapers  supported  the  President.  Cf.  Steiner, 
McUcnry,  407-08,  Wm.  Jay,  John  Jay,  ii,  296;  King,  iii,  183. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  165 

mation  of  foreign  nations,"  public  sentiment  would  not 
for  a  moment  support  such  a  system  in  the  face  of  the 
French  offers.  "In  the  opinion  of  many  intelligent  men," 
evidently  including  Otis  himself,  war  should  have  been 
declared  by  Congress  during  the  second  session,  and, 
owing  to  this  "fatal  and  impolitic  omission,  the  popular 
zeal  and  enthusiasm"  had  subsided  "for  want  of  im- 
pulse/' The  only  way  of  repairing  this  error  is  "by  con- 
vincing the  people  that  no  occasion  of  preserving  peace 
has  been  omitted,  and  by  affording  to  them  another 
instance  of  the  duplicity  and  perfidy  of  France,"  —  an 
argument  intended  to  reach  the  war  Federalists.  The 
light  and  informal  character  of  the  French  overtures  has 
been  taken,  Otis  says,  as  a  proof  of  insincerity,  but  "we 
can  never  treat,  if  we  must  he  first  satisfied  of  the  sin- 
cerity of  France."  We  must  "put  their  sincerity  to  the 
touchstone  more  than  once  by  taking  them  at  their 
word."  Our  honor  and  dignity  will  not  be  impaired 
by  the  President's  policy.  The  King  of  England  has 
twice  instituted  peace  negotiations  with  France  dur- 
ing the  present  war,  and  with  most  happy  results  on 
public  opinion.  A  comparison  on  the  score  of  honor  and 
dignity  is  not  disadvantageous  to  us.  "Can  we  make 
war  with  success,  if  we  reject  overtures  apparently 
pacific?" 

If  Hamilton  and  the  Essex  Junto  had  followed  this 
sound  advice,  the  fatal  split  would  have  been  averted; 
but  they  did  not  listen  to  it.  The  orthodoxy  of  Otis's 
Federalism  had  long  been  suspected,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  inflexible  gentlemen  who  composed  the  Essex  Junto. 
Timothy  Pickering,  a  few  weeks  after  receiving  Higgin- 
son's  account  of  Otis's  opinions,  in  the  letter  just  quoted, 
was  told  that  Otis  was  talking  rather  freely  of  an  "oli- 
garchic faction  "  that  intended  to  control  the  government 


166  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

and  elect  the  next  President.  ^^  A  groundless  rumor,  then 
in  circulation,  to  the  effect  that  Otis  coveted  Pickering's 
position  of  Secretary  of  State  ^°  must  also  have  reached 
his  ears.  It  was  wholly  natural,  then,  that  Pickering, 
tenacious  of  his  office,  and  ever  on  the  lookout  for  politi- 
cal defection,  should  put  the  worst  possible  construction 
on  Otis's  course  of  action,  and  ascribe  his  endeavors 
for  party  harmony  to  the  unworthy  motive  of  place- 
hunting.  In  answer  to  Higginson  he  wrote  on  December 
23,  1799: 

[Otis]  has  two  principal  objects  in  view:  to  please  the  Presi- 
dent, &  merit  his  favour;  and  to  acquire  popularity.  [I  urge 
you,  and  all  your]  intelligent  friends,  to  whom  alone  it  is  prac- 
ticable, to  take  some  measures,  which  may  controul  the  pro- 
jects of  Mr.  Otis.  It  is  possible  you  may  present  to  his  view  some 
things  more  alarming  than  his  present  pursuits  are  alluring. 
Vain  and  ambitious,  without  principles  to  controul  these  dan- 
gerous passions,  he  will  work,  perhaps  fatal  mischiefs.  The  rem- 
edy should  be  speedily  applied.   I  have  authority  for  believing 

that  he  is,  and  for  some  time  has  been,  the  tool  of ^^  and 

the  father  a  miserable  tale-bearer.  The  insinuating  address  of 
the  former,  and  the  apparent  simplicity  of  the  latter,  qualify 
them  for  their  respective  offices.^^ 

Among  the  Adams  papers  is  a  document  that  seems  at 
first  glance  to  confirm  Pickering's  unflattering  estimate 
of  Otis's  motives  for  supporting  the  President's  policy. 
It  is  a  letter  from  Otis  to  the  President,  dated  February 
21, 1799  (three  days  after  the  nomination  of  a  minister  to 
France),  in  which  Otis  requests  for  himself  the  appoint- 
ment of  Secretary  of  the  Legation  at  Paris,  "if  it  could  be 

*'  See  above,  note  17,  and  below,  p.  182. 

2"  Gibbs,  II,  315.  2'  Left  blank  in  the  manuscript. 

^-  Pickering  MSS.,  xii,  371-75.  Higginson  replied  with  some  further  attacks 
on  Otis's  character.  Otis,  apparently,  was  unconscious  of  the  enmity  Pickering 
and  Higginson  felt  toward  him. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  167 

accompanied  with  a  provisional  appointment  to  succeed 
the  Minister  at  the  Hague  in  the  event  of  his  being  re- 
ceived at  Paris."  It  is  clear,  then,  that  Otis  expected  to 
derive  personal  benefit  from  the  new  policy.  But  this 
expectation  did  not  last  long,  for  the  President  refused 
him  the  desired  position;  and  as  he  nevertheless  remained 
faithful  to  the  Adams  wing  of  the  party  during  the  elec- 
tion of  1800,  he  must  have  acted  from  principle,  and  not 
from  mere  hope  of  personal  advancement. 

John  Adams  was  only  intermittently  bold;  he  was  in- 
capable of  carrying  out  his  peace  policy  consistently. 
Instead  of  dismissing  the  Hamiltonian  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  and  appointing  men  who  would  be  loyal  to  him 
and  his  policy,  he  not  only  retained  them  in  oflBce,  but 
left  them  in  charge  of  the  government  while  he  passed 
the  spring  and  summer  at  Quincy.  The  result  of  his 
indecision  was  a  brief  Hamiltonian  restoration;  and 
when,  in  May,  1799,  a  definite  welcome  to  the  new  mis- 
sion came  from  Talleyrand,  and  the  President  ordered 
his  Secretary  of  State  to  make  preparations  for  its  de- 
parture, Pickering  procrastinated. ^^  By  October,  after 
an  absence  of  seven  months  from  the  seat  of  government, 
John  Adams  finally  awoke  to  the  situation,  hastened  to 
Philadelphia,  reasserted  his  power  with  his  customary 
tactlessness,  and  sent  ojff  the  envoys  to  France  without 
consulting  his  Cabinet.  Henceforth  the  breach  in  the 
party  was  irreparable.  Hamilton  and  Pickering  were  not 
the  sort  of  men  to  maintain  even  a  nominal  loyalty  to 
a  chief  who  thus  spurned  their  advice  and  flouted  their 
policy. 

^'  Hamilton  and  his  friends  hoped  that  the  success  of  Archduke  Charles  and 
Suvarov  would  soon  bring  Louis  XVIIl  to  his  own,  and  avoid  all  necessity  of 
negotiating  with  the  Directory.  Correspondence  between  John  Adams  and  Wm. 
Cunningham  (1823).  letter  xiv;  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography, 
xii,  409. 


168  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


LETTERS  ON  FRENCH  RELATIONS  AND  THE  LOGAN 

AFFAIR 

RICHARD   CODMAN  ^*   TO   OTIS 

Paris  26  August  1798 
My  dear  Sir 

At  a  crisis  like  the  present  I  thought  it  might  be  agreable 
to  you  to  receive  a  letter  from  an  old  friend  &  acquaintance 
whose  principles  you  know,  and  who  from  having  resided  so 
long  in  this  country  may  be  supposed  capable  of  giving  pretty 
accurate  information  on  the  actual  situation  of  public  affairs 
here,  &  particularly  as  regards  the  present  disposition  of  this 
Goverment  towards  that  of  America.  Mr.  Gerry  will  have 
made  you  acquainted  with  the  change  that  had  taken  place 
before  his  departure  from  Paris  viz.  The  total  relinquishment 
of  all  demands  of  a  loan,  or  money  in  any  shape,  a  desire  to  put 
aside  all  recriminations  for  injurious  speeches  on  the  one  part 
or  the  other,  &  an  arrete  of  the  Directory  recalling  all  Commis- 
sions granted  to  Privateers  and  ordering  new  ones  to  be  issued 
under  certain  restrictions  to  respect  the  neutral  flag. 

By  the  last  note  from  Mr  Talleyrand  to  Mr  Gerry  you  will 
also  have  observed  the  assurances  of  the  french  Goverment  to 
receive  the  person  the  American  Govern,  might  chuse  to  send 
to  settle  finally  the  existing  differences.  Such  was  the  state  of 
affairs  when  Mr  Gerry  left  us,  the  Directory  have  been  induced 
to  make  this  essential  alteration  in  their  conduct  from  the  re- 
presentations made  to  them  by  Dupont,  Kosciusko,  Volney  & 
others  lately  from  America,  Dupont  particularly  in  a  memoire 
he  has  lately  presented  to  them  has  so  opened  their  Eyes  respect- 
ing the  horrid  depredations  made  by  their  Cruisers  in  the  West 
Indies  (of  which  I  believe  they  were  in  a  great  measure  before 
ignorant)  that  they  really  appear  anxious  to  convince  America 
of  their  desire  to  redress  her  grievances,  to  show  this  desire  un- 
equivocally they  have  passed  an  arrete  which  releases  all 
American  Sailors  detained  in  Prisons  in  the  interior  &  in  the 
different  Sea-ports.  By  another  arrete  they  have  raised  the  Em- 
bargo on  American  vessels,  &  Mr  Skipwith  in  a  note  from  Mr 

^*  Codman  was  a  Boston  Federalist,  and  a  classmate  of  Otis. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  169 

Talleyrand  is  assured  that  a  minister  from  America  to  settle 
finally  the  disputes  will  be  received  in  an  amicable  manner. 
Much  has  been  done  to  endeavour  to  persuade  the  Goverment 
to  send  a  Minister  to  America  to  treat  at  Phila,  but  there  seems 
to  be  a  fear  that  from  the  present  temper  of  the  American  Govt 
he  would  not  be  received,  they  are  therefore  not  inclined  to 
risque  it. 

Such  as  I  have  above  stated  is  the  present  situation  of  aflPairs 
here,  the  moment  is  extremely  favourable  for  an  accomodation, 
I  hope  most  sincerely  that  our  Goverment  will  see  it  in  the 
same  light  &  once  more  risque  sending  a  minister.  It  is  remark- 
able that  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  measures  of  the  Ameri- 
can Govt  have  been  vigorous  &  decided,  in  that  same  propor- 
tion has  this  Govt  been  better  &  better  disposed,  it  has  been 
owing,  in  some  measure,  to  their  having  been  lately  better  in- 
formed of  the  wrongs  we  have  suflFered,  &  perhaps  more  than 
all,  the  Union  which  has  been  displayed  in  America  which  has 
convinced  this  Goverment  that  it  is  not  for  their  interest  to 
force  America  thus  united  into  the  arms  of  Great  Britain,  they 
know  well  that  a  nation  so  united  would  be  an  encouraging  & 
useful  ally. 

I  hope  to  God  that  on  the  arrival  of  the  dispatches  which  Mr 
Skipwith  sends,  by  the  Vessel  that  carries  this,  no  declaration 
of  War  will  have  taken  place  or  alliance  made  with  great  Britain, 
if  not  &  the  desire  for  Peace  still  continues  with  our  Goverment 
I  think  they  may  count  on  an  equal  desire  on  the  part  of  France, 
&  a  reconcilliation  yet  be  brought  about,  which  ought  to  be 
desired  by  all  true  friends  to  both  countries. 

Doctor  Logan  of  Phila  arrived  here  about  10  days  since  from 
Hamburg,  previous  to  which  the  french  Goverment  had  come 
to  the  determination  of  taking  the  measures  I  have  mentioned 
to  you,  the  manner  in  which  he  has  expressed  himself  to  the 
Directory  (for  he  has  had  an  interview  with  3  of  them)  had  been 
very  satisfactory  to  me,  he  had  endeavoured  to  impress  on 
their  minds  that  none  but  Intriguants  &  the  Enemies  of  both 
Countries  vdW  hold  out  to  them  an  idea  that  there  will  be  any 
party  in  America  in  case  of  a  War  to  aid  the  plans  of  France  or 
assist  them  in  case  of  invasion,  that  on  the  contrary  every 
American  would  regard  with  horror  the  very  idea  of  it,  &  be 
ready  to  rally  around  the  standard  of  Goverment  to  oppose 


170  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

all  its  Enemies  and  particularly  to  resist,  with  force  &  energy, 
a  foreign  invasion.  He  has  fully  explained  this  to  Mr  Talley- 
rand &  in  so  doing  has  in  my  opinion  essentially  served  his 
Country. 

The  measure  taken  by  our  Govt  to  stop  all  commercial  in- 
tercourse with  this  Country  and  its  dependances  has  had  the 
best  effect,  it  is  an  arm  that  may  I  think  be  employed  to  ad- 
vantage against  any  nation  that  may  in  future  insult  us.  .  .  ." 

I  am  with  much  Esteem  Your  friend  &  Obt.  Servant 

RiCHD   CODMAN 
Copy.  Original  by  Mr  Woodward  *^ 

JOSEPH    WOODWARD  ^"^    TO    OTIS 

Boston,  Jany.  25th  1799. 
Dear  Sir, 

In  consequence  of  your  letter  to  our  mutual  friend  Mr  Mason, 
I  here  state  to  you  all  the  circumstances  relative  to  Dr  Logan's 
Memorial  to  the  Minister  of  foreign  Relations  in  France,  which 
I  have  any  Knoledge  of. 

After  Dr  L.  had  been  in  paris  10  or  12  days  had  been  many 

2^  The  remainder  of  the  letter  has  been  quoted  above,  p.  113. 

2*  The  original  was  handed  by  Otis  to  the  President,  on  October  28,  and  by 
him  forwarded  to  Pickering.  (Adams  to  Pickering,  October  29,  179S,  Adams 
MSS.)  It  failed  to  convince  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Directory's  sincerity, 

2'  Joseph  Woodward  was  the  Boston  merchant  associated  with  Otis  in  the 
Copley  land  deal  of  1795.  He  was  in  Paris  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Logan's  mission, 
and  on  his  return  brought  dispatches  from  the  American  consul  at  Paris,  which 
Otis  delivered  to  the  President,  and  also  a  copy  of  the  memorial  alluded  to  in 
this  letter.  It  was  shown  by  Woodward  to  Otis,  to  the  President  (Adams, 
Works,  VIII,  615),  and  to  other  Federalist  leaders,  and  during  the  Logan  debate 
was  read  aloud  by  Harper,  with  pungent  comments,  on  the  floor  of  Congress 
{Annals  of  Fifth  Congress,  2619-25).  It  contained  several  exceptionable  state- 
ments —  one,  for  instance,  urging  the  French  government  to  be  just  in  order 
to  "leave  the  true  American  character  to  blaze  forth  in  the  approaching  elec- 
tions." Dr.  Logan  then  published  a  statement  (  Annals,  2703,  n.),  to  the  effect 
that  the  memorial  was  not  written  by  him,  but  by  Otis's  friend  Richard  Cod- 
man,  who  had  urged  him  to  present  it  to  Talleyrand,  which  he  declined  to  do. 
Naturally  this  statement  caused  Otis  considerable  embarrassment.  This  letter 
of  Woodward  is  evidently  in  reply  to  one  from  Otis,  requesting  precise  informa- 
tion on  the  subject.  It  raises  a  direct  issue  of  veracity  between  Woodward  and 
Logan.  Codman's  remarks  on  Logan  in  his  letter  to  Otis  indicate  that  he  ap- 
proved of  the  memorial,  even  if  he  did  not  write  it. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  171 

times  at  Talleyrands  &  at  Merlins,  I  was  told  he  was  advised 
by  the  Minister  to  prefer  a  Memorial,  Stating  his  opinion,  re- 
specting the  United  States  as  relating  to  the  french  Republick. 
The  reason  that  was  given  for  this  was,  that  If  the  Directory 
wish'd  to  bring  forward  any  proposition  to  the  Councils  respect- 
ing America,  that  they  might  have  some  document  to  ground 
it  upon,  as  a  change  of  measures  was  said  to  be  the  Intention 
of  their  Goverment. 

A  day  or  two  after  Mr  R.  Codman  showed  me  draft  of  a  me- 
morial as  he  said  of  Dr  Logans  writing,  which  the  Dr.  had  re- 
quested him  to  have  copied,  by  his  Clerk  in  a  fair  hand,  both 
in  french  &  English.  This  draft  was  corrected  &  added  to  before 
Copying  by  Mr  Barlow  at  L.  request  as  I  understood,  then 
written  off  by  Mr  Codmands  Clerk  &  given  to  Dr  Logan  who 
Deliverd  it  to  Tallerand,  This  I  understood  by  Mr.  Codman 
&  I  think  from  the  Dr  himself.  When  I  was  about  to  leave  Paris 
I  requested  Mr  Codman  to  favor  me  with  a  Copy  of  the  Me- 
morial that  Dr  Logan  had  presented  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  This  Copy  I  did  myself  the  honor  to  Deliver  to  the 
President  of  the  U.  S.  to  do  with  as  he  might  think  Proper  And 
is  the  same  that  has  been  Published  in  a  Philadelphia  news 
Paper  as  having  been  read  by  Mr  Harper  in  the  House  of  Con- 
gress &  laid  on  the  Speaker's  Table.  I  am  very  much  surprised 
to  hear  the  Turn  that  has  been  given  to  this  transaction  by  the 
Doer,  for  certainly  I  conversed  with  him  myself  conserning 
the  Memorial  &  he  had  not  any  secrecy  about  it.  I  do  not  re- 
colect  any  thing  further  on  this  Subject.  Any  use  you  think 
proper  to  make  of  this  Letter  is  at  your  Discretion.  And  be- 
lieve me  to  be  very  truly  your  friend 

And  Humbel  Servant 

Joseph  Woodward 

JONATHAN    MASON    TO    OTIS 

Boston  Feby  27th.  1799 
Dr  Otis 

And  well  may  you  be  in  affliction.  If  you  have  any  love  of 
Country,  you  must  feel  at  so  gross  a  departure  from  principles, 
so  gross  a  derilictionof  position,  &  so  gross  a  desertion  of  party. *^ 

^8  He  refers  to  the  President's  nomination  of  a  minister  to  France. 


172  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

From  being  respectable  in  Europe,  from  having  convinced 
Great  Britain,  &  from  having  associated  with  all  friends  to  Order, 
Property  &  Society,  we  must  be  content  to  sacrifice  these  ad- 
vantages &  once  again  become  soothers  &  suppliants  for  Peace, 
from  a  Gang  of  pityfuU  robbers,  be  by  them  despised  &  finally 
duped,  without  attaining  in  any  degree  the  object  of  these  sac- 
rifices. It  will  be  now  seen  that  the  Speech  at  the  Opening  of 
the  Session,  which  carried  its  own  evidence  of  the  soil  in  which 
it  grew,  was  but  preparitory  to  this  Step,  that  it  partook  of  sen- 
timents &  policy,  which  approved  &  were  in  unison  with  those 
of  Mr  Gerry  —  That  this  man  the  P  [resident]  has  been  invari- 
ably determined  to  support,  &  in  this  measure,  has  resolved 
publickly  to  sanction  his  conduct.  This  appointment  declares 
to  every  American  —  that  the  French  in  the  P.  opinion,  are 
desirous  of  making  a  peace  with  this  Country  —  that  they  are 
serious  in  their  desires  &  that  there  is  a  fair  prospect  of  its  being 
accomplished  —  further,  that  it  will  be  equitable,  solid  &  last- 
ing —  &  that  it  is  our  interest  to  make  it.  Or  why  appoint  him? 
Can  any  rational  man  either  in  Europe  or  America,  who  has 
paid  the  smallest  attention  to  the  Men  &  Measures  of  that  na- 
tion, join  with  him  in  this  Opinion.  Certainly  there  is  not  one. 
Neither  does  he  think  so  himself.  I  have  too  good  an  Opinion 
of  him  to  suppose,  that  he  would  not  esteem  it  a  public  calamity, 
if  the  French  themselves  at  this  moment,  in  the  present  state 
of  things,  had  made  such  advances,  as  would  have  rendered  it 
necessary  for  our  Country  to  have  met  them.  We  are  not  in  a 
situation  to  treat  —  We  are  not  yet  Nationally  cloathed.  Our 
Country  &  Govermt  is  yet  assuming  &  accustoming  them- 
selves to  National  Features.  Time  is  wanting  to  give  these 
Features,  stability.  Great  Britain  well  disposed,  &  France  pros- 
trate —  we  could  creep  along  in  our  Na\^,  in  our  Army,  in  our 
Fortifications,  in  our  Commerce  —  &  all  our  permanent 
establishments,  all  of  which  would  be  opposed  by  the  one  or 
other  of  these  nations,  &  obstructed  with  success,  were  it  not 
for  the  present  irregular  state  of  things  in  this  Country  &  Eu- 
rope. I  have  ever  considered  it  peculiarly  fortunate,  that  at 
this  moment  of  our  marine  establishment,  Gt.  Britain  was  seri- 
ously disposed  to  be  liberal  &  make  sacrifices.  With  her  Frown 
only,  with  a  critical  discussion  &  attention  to  quibbles,  she 
might  totally  destroy  any  strength  of  ours  upon  that  element. 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  173 

How  came  then  this  i\.ppointment?  From  personal  considera- 
tions, &  deep  rooted  jealousies.  From  a  conviction  in  his  o'^ti 
Mind  that  he  is  not  the  choice  of  the  Federalists  —  that  he  is 
the  man  for  the  moment,  &  that  they  are  raising  another  to 
supercede  him.  This  haunts  him  day  &  night,  &  gives  the  tone 
to  the  smallest  measure  of  his  administration.  It  is  the  weak 
side  &  there  are  men  enough  who  know  &  take  the  advantage 
of  it.  It  is  to  be  lamented,  that  he  cannot  discern,  what  is  as 
visible  as  the  Meridian  sun  —  that  a  firm  adherance,  to  his 
first  measures,  adopted  from  reflection  &  sanctioned  by  advice, 
would  have  secured  to  him  the  chair,  immortalized  his  ad- 
ministration &  his  Fame  would  have  been  forgotten  only  with 
that  of  his  Predecessor.  But  such  things  are,  &  you  are  now  to 
witness  —  A  deriliction  of  the  system  of  Defence  —  an  evapo- 
ration of  National  Spirit  —  a  Loss  of  National  Dignity  —  the 
Frowns  of  our  European  friends  —  the  tryumph  of  our  Domes- 
tic enemies  —  An  increase  of  Jacobinic  influence,  &  God  knows, 
but  there  will  be  a  change  of  Men  &  Measures.  And  how  is 
this  thing  to  be  avoided?  By  a  remedy  scarcely  short  of  the 
Disease.  By  a  proclamation  to  the  World  that  our  administra- 
tion are  at  points  —  that  the  French  have  an  advocate  in  our 
President  —  &  that  with  him  our  senate  are  at  issue  upon  a 
subject  the  most  important  ever  agitated  in  the  Councils  of 
our  Country.  I  hope  this  thing  will  be  withdrawn,  &  if  not,  I 
hope  in  God  it  will  be  negatived?  The  Consequences  may  be 
disagreeable,  but  in  the  end,  after  perhaps  bringing  our  govern- 
ment once  again  to  the  Precipice,  it  will  prove  a  measure  ill 
timed,  personal,  damnable,  &  deservedly  kick'd  out  of  company. 
I  have  shewn  your  letter  to  but  few  friends,  but  have  been  obliged 
to  read  parts  of  it  to  crouds.  Since  which  my  friend  in  the  Coun- 
try has  shewTi  me  one  conformable  to  yours  in  all  its  parts, 

&  Jos.  Hall  has  reed  one  from  J  P still  more  so. 

The  Old  way  which  is  most  commonly  the  best  way  —  is  to 
jogg  on  steadily,  independantly,  &  firmly :  —  I  hope  your  House 
will  not  be  wanting  in  this  mode. 

Yr  friend  J  Mason 


174  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

JOHN   ADAMS   TO   OTIS 

Quincy  February  19th,  1823. 
Dccar  Sir 

I  think  you  c<annot  have  entirely  forgotten  a  conversation 
at  my  table;  I  had  invited  a  small  company  of  ten  or  a  dozen 
gentlemen  who  had  always  professed  to  be  my  friends,  among 
whom  were  yourself,  Mr.  Bayard  of  Delaware,  and  I  think  Mr. 
Sedgwick,  it  is  not  necessary  to  recollect  any  others.  It  was 
at  the  time  when  I  had  nominated  an  ambassador  to  France, 
a  measure  which  produced  a  real  anarchy  in  the  government  and 
infinite  vexation  to  me.  It  was  a  sombre  diner,  but,  unluckily, 
the  subject  of  the  embassy  to  France  was  brought  upon  the 
tapis,  I  remember  not  in  what  manner,  or  by  whom.  Mr. 
Bayard  began  to  harangue  upon  the  subject,  and,  with  a  dismal 
countenance,  a  melancholy  air,  and  a  Jeremiad  tone,  began  to 
prophesy  ill,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  in  these  words:  "Ah! 
It  is  an  unfortunate  measure.  We  know  not  the  consequences 
of  it."  And  he  went  on  in  this  whining  strain,  in  a  long  ha- 
rangue, till  at  last  he  said  "England  would  certainly  be  of- 
fended at  it,  they  could  not  fail  to  take  umbrage  and  they 
might  declare  war  upon  us." 

Upon  the  maturest  reflection,  to  this  hour  I  am  astonished 
that  my  patience  held  out  so  long.  What  was  it  but  a  direct 
attack  and  insult  to  me  personally,  before  a  select  collection  of 
persons  who  ought  to  have  been  my  cordial  friends  and  sup- 
porters. But  this  I  could  have  borne;  my  patience  would  have 
held  out  under  all  that.  But  I  must  confess  that  such  is  my  na- 
ture, that  sordid  meanness,  base  hypocrisy,  and  above  all  po- 
litical poltroonery  in  a  just  and  righteous  public  cause,  never 
failed  to  produce  in  me  an  exclamation  of  contempt  and  in- 
dignation, that  I  never  could  restrain,  and  Heaven  knows,  I 
have  had  trials  enough  of  it,  in  the  course  of  my  life.  I  broke 
out  assertingly  upon  the  occasion,  and  I  said,  as  nearly  as  I 
recollect,  in  these  words  or  others  of  a  similar  import :  "  Mr.  Bay- 
ard, I  am  surprised  to  hear  you  express  yourself  in  this  man- 
ner; would  you  prefer  a  war  with  France  to  a  war  with  Eng- 
land, in  the  present  state  of  the  world;  would  you  wish  for  an 
alliance  with  Great  Britain,  and  a  war  with  France?  If  you 
would,  your  opinions  are  totally  different  from  mine."  Bayard 


ADAMS  ASSERTS  HIMSELF  175 

replied,  "Great  Britain  is  very  powerful,  her  navy  is  very  ter- 
rible." This  put  me  out  of  all  patience;  I  broke  out,  "I  know 
the  power  of  Great  Britain,  I  have  measured  its  omnipotence 
without  treasure,  without  arms,  without  ammunition,  and 
without  soldiers  or  ships;  I  have  braved  and  set  at  defiance  all 
her  power.  In  the  negotiation  with  France  we  had  done  no 
more  than  we  had  a  perfect  right  to  do;  she  had  no  right,  or 
color  of  right,  to  take  offense  at  it,  and  if  she  did  I  would  not 
regard  it  a  farthing.  For  in  a  just  and  righteous  cause  I  shall 
hold  all  her  policy  and  power  in  total  contempt."  I  remember 
that  you,  Mr.  Otis,  afterwards  said  to  me  you  wondered  I  had 
been  so  severe  upon  Bayard,  for  Bayard  was  my  friend;  I  an- 
swered you,  I  knew  him  to  be  my  friend,  and  I  knew  myself  to 
be  his  friend,  but  for  those  very  reasons  I  used  the  greater  free- 
dom with  him  —  certainly  too  great  for  the  dignity  of  my  sta- 
tion. But  from  my  inmost  soul,  I  cannot  repent  it  to  this  day.^* 

"  As  this  letter  was  dictated,  I  have  taken  liberties  with  the  spelling  and 
punctuation. 


CHAPTER   XI 

INTRIGUE   AND   DEFEAT 
1799-1800.  .Et.  33-35 

In  the  congressional  elections  which  extended  from 
April,  1798,  to  April,  1799,  the  country  at  large  placed  its 
stamp  of  approval  on  Federalist  policy,  and  returned  the 
largest  majority  that  the  party  ever  enjoyed.  It  has  often 
been  assumed  that  the  Federal  party  was  a  sectional 
organization,  centred  chiefly  in  New  England.  Federal- 
ism, it  is  true,  held  New  England  as  its  last  stronghold, 
but  down  to  1801  the  party  was  distinctly  a  national  one. 
New  England  furnished  no  more  than  a  due  proportion 
of  its  leaders;  the  Middle  States  furnished  Hamilton, 
Jay,  Dayton,  and  Bayard;  and  the  South,  Harper, 
Marshall,  Rutledge,  Davie,  and  the  Pinckneys.  In  the 
elections  to  the  Sixth  Congress,  the  Federal  party  swept 
the  far  South,  as  well  as  New  England,  and  made  sub- 
stantial gains  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  The 
Republican  party  secured  but  three  members  east  of  the 
Hudson,  and  but  one  member  south  of  North  Carolina.^ 
Hamilton,  however,  was  pessimistic  on  the  outcome  of 
the  elections;  he  believed  "no  real  or  desirable  change 
has  been  wrought  in  those  States."  Two  years  sufficed 
to  show  the  truth  of  this  surmise.  The  South,  in  1798, 

^  Matthew  Lyon  of  Vermont;  in  Massachusetts,  General  Vamum  of  the 
Middlesex  County  District,  and  Phanuel  Bishop  of  the  Third  Southern  District 
(to  the  east  of  Rhode  Island);  General  Sumter  of  Camden  District.  South 
Carolipa.  The  Federalists  thus  gained  two  seats  in  New  England,  and  four  in 
the  far  South.  In  North  Carolina  they  gained  four  seats,  and  in  Virginia,  the 
same  number. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  177 

had  much  to  fear  from  a  French  invasion,  and  responded 
to  the  appeal  of  a  spirited  foreign  policy.  When  the 
French  peril  was  over,  that  section  lapsed  back  again 
into  Democracy. 2  Hamilton  also  perceived  that  "some 
parts  of  the  Union,  which,  in  time  past,  have  been  the 
soundest,  have  of  late  exhibited  signs  of  a  gangrene  begun 
and  progressive."  Again  he  was  right,  for  the  Republican 
party  won  six  new  seats  between  the  Potomac  and  the 
Hudson,  which  were  permanent  gains. 

Otis  was  present  at  the  opening  session  of  the  Sixth 
Congress  at  Philadelphia  on  December  2, 1799,  and  wrote 
Mrs.  Otis  on  the  following  day: 

Politically  speaking,  I  believe  the  Session  will  be  agreeable 
and  harmonious.  There  appears  nothing  to  quarrell  about, 
and  I  think  you  will  find  less  asperity  in  debate  and  more  good- 
nature between  the  opposite  parties  than  usual.  Old  Sedgwick 
is  chosen  Speaker,  &  much  delighted  with  the  appointment  — 
We  were  however  obliged  to  manage  a  little  to  secure  this  ob- 
ject. 

As  Otis  suggested  in  his  letter,  the  character  of  the  de- 
bates in  the  Sixth  Congress  differed  widely  from  that  in 
the  Fifth.  Then  the  Federalists  had  been  the  aggressors, 
hammering  out  a  national  spirit  from  a  sluggish  majority, 
and  rashly  abusing  power  when  won.  In  the  Sixth  Con- 
gress, little  trace  was  left  of  that  exuberance  of  Federal- 
ism that  produced  the  Sedition  Act.  Federalist  policy 
was  now  defensive,  not  aggressive;  its  object  was  to  main- 
tain a  system  already  established.  Even  the  Essex  Junto 
asked  no  more  than  an  extension  of  the  judiciary.  The 
negotiation  with  France  was  about  to  commence,  and  the 
Federal  majority  took  its  cue  from  the  President's  sen- 

^  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Essex  Junto  considered  the  Virginia  Fed- 
eralists "little  better  than  half-way  Jacobins."  The  two  Georgia  members  of 
the  Sixth  Congress,  and  David  Stone  of  North  Carolina,  all  elected  as  Feder- 
alists, voted  steadily  with  the  opposition. 


178  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

sible  advice  in  his  opening  address:  "however  it  may  ter- 
minate, a  steady  perseverance  in  a  system  of  national  de- 
fence commensurate  with  our  resources  and  the  situation 
of  our  country  is  an  obvious  dictate  of  wisdom,"  —  in 
other  words,  he  advised  them  to  stand  pat.  Otis,  as  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Defense,  indorsed  this  pohcy  in 
a  report  of  January  13,  1800.  He  recommended  that  the 
3400  men  ah-eady  enhsted  in  the  twelve  new  regiments 
be  retained,  since  "the  national  honor  and  interest,  in 
the  present  posture  of  affairs  make  it  prudent  and  neces- 
sary to  continue  prepared  for  the  worst  event."  As  a 
concession  to  considerations  of  economy,  he  advised  a  sus- 
pension of  the  recruiting  service  until  the  "approach  of 
danger  should  compel  the  Government  to  resume  it." 

The  Republican  policy  of  1800  was  to  vitiate  the  Feder- 
alist system  by  incessant  attack,  and  to  hold  it  up  to  pop- 
ular detestation  and  ridicule,  with  an  eye  on  the  coming 
presidential  election.  The  debates  were,  however,  as  Otis 
prophesied,  far  less  acrimonious  than  those  of  the  Fifth 
Congress;  and  much  more  time  was  found  for  internal 
legislation.  Otis  was  not  so  active  in  this  Congress  as  in 
the  last.  The  novelty  of  political  leadership  had  worn  off, 
and  his  letters  are  full  of  anticipation  of  the  approaching 
end  to  his  congressional  career.  He  and  Harper  as  major- 
ity leaders  were  quietly  superseded  by  a  man  greatly  their 
superior,  John  Marshall,  who  brought  judicial  modera- 
tion and  statesmanlike  qualities  of  the  very  highest  order 
to  the  service  of  Federalism. 

The  actual  work  of  the  session  was  postponed  practi- 
cally a  month  by  the  death  of  Washington  on  December 
18,  1799.  John  Nicholas  ushered  in  the  New  Year  vdih 
an  opening  shot  on  the  Federalist  system,  —  a  resolu- 
tion to  repeal  the  Army  Act  of  July  16, 1798.  On  January 
11,  1800,  Otis  wrote: 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  179 

We  have  had  a  most  busy  week,  —  Mr  Nicholas'  resolution 
was  intended  to  produce  the  long  debate  which  is  annually  the 
result  of  some  jacobin  proposition;  but  as  the  federalists  deter- 
mined to  stick  to  it,  and  dispatch  it  in  a  reasonable  time,  we  have 
continued  sitting  untill  a  late  hour  every  afternoon,  and  have 
consequently  found  ourselves  fatigued  and  disposed  to  rest 
after  escaping  from  the  polluted  atmosphere  of  the  Hall.  We 
buried  this  baby,  last  evening,  and  though  the  debate  was  long 
and  animated  and  your  prating  husband  speechified  an  hour, 
there  was  less  acrimony  and  personal  allusion;  &  in  short  more 
decency  and  attention  to  feelings  than  I  have  ever  known  on  a 
similar  occasion.  I  am  glad  it  is  finished,  as  it  is  the  most  im- 
portant question  that  will  be  agitated;  and  the  only  pitched 
battle  that  will  be  fought  —  and  such  is  the  expenditure  of 
ammunition  &  force  that  none  but  slight  skirmishes  will  prob- 
ably ensue. 

The  debate,  which  was,  indeed,  a  lengthy  one,  served 
as  a  sort  of  clearing-house  for  political  principles.  On  the 
one  side  we  hear  of  the  danger  of  invasion,  the  awful  fate 
of  Switzerland,  Genoa,  etc.  (the  list  had  grown  appreci- 
ably longer  since  the  day  of  Otis's  maiden  speech) ;  on  the 
other  side,  the  maintenance  of  an  army  is  denounced  as 
oppressive,  unduly  expensive,  and  insulting  to  France. 
The  sensation  of  the  debate  was  furnished  by  Democracy's 
latest  acquisition  from  Virginia,  John  Randolph  of  Roa- 
noake,  with  his  shrill  voice,  diminutive  head,  and  legs 
"proportioned  to  the  body  like  a  pair  of  tongs,"  who  de- 
nounced the  American  army  as  "mercenaries"  and  a 
"handful  of  ragamuflBns."  ^  Nicholas's  resolution  was 
finally  rejected  by  the  decisive  vote  of  60  to  39,  and  Otis's 
proposal  to  suspend  enlistments  adopted. 

The  only  reported  speech  by  Otis  during  the  debate  was 
short,  but  significant.    He  remarked: 

I  confess  I  have  indulged  mournful  presentiments  of  the  ef- 
fects to  be  expected  from  a  new  treaty.  I  foresee  that,  like  other 
'  J.  Schouler,  United  States,  i,  453. 


180  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

nations,  we  may  be  compelled  to  realize  that  the  dangers  of 
peace  and  amity  are  the  most  serious  dangers.  I  know  that  at- 
tempts will  be  made  to  demolish  the  whole  defensive  fabric 
which  we  have  erected,  and  to  replunge  us  into  that  abyss  of 
debility  and  inaction  from  which  we  shall  never  escape  a  second 
time.  With  these  difficulties  I  have  always  thought  our  Govern- 
ment would  be  doomed  to  struggle  w'henever  a  treaty  should  be 
concluded  with  France,  but  I  did  not  expect  to  see  at  this  time 
the  axe  laid  to  the  root  of  our  whole  system. 

His  "mournful  presentiments"  were  well  justified, 
since  the  history  of  the  next  eleven  years  showed  that 
the  American  people  preferred  a  foreign  policy  of  "de- 
bility and  inaction"  to  the  Federalist  policy  of  defense 
and  reprisal.  The  speech  was  an  indiscreet  expression  of 
Otis's  discontent  with  the  President's  policy,  which,  never- 
theless, he  was  loyally  supporting. 

If  any  one  is  under  the  delusion  that  the  present  con- 
gressional practice  of  frittering  away  election  year  by 
making  political  capital  is  a  modem  invention,  let  him 
read  the  debates  of  the  Sixth  Congress.  The  Republican 
party  in  1800  threw  out  a  net  for  political  martyrs,  and 
made  an  excellent  catch  of  bogus  ones,  who  served  equally 
well  the  purpose  of  convincing  ignorant  voters  that  the 
Federal  party  was  bent  on  crushing  out  personal  liberty. 
Thomas  Nash  {alias  Jonathan  Robbins,  and  several 
other  names)  was  the  leader  of  this  noble  army;  the 
magic  of  his  name  secured  countless  votes  for  Jefferson. 
He  was  an  Irishman,  accused  of  murder  on  a  British  ves- 
sel, who  escaped  to  the  United  States.  His  extradition 
was  demanded  by  the  British  government,  and  granted 
by  the  President,  after  a  claim  that  Nash  had  made  to 
American  citizenship  had  been  proved  false.  Although 
before  his  execution  in  Halifax  he  confessed  his  falsehood, 
Nash's  confession  was  completely  ignored  by  the  Demo- 
crats, who  attempted  to  censure  the  President  for  his 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  181 

"executive  usurpation"  and  "unwonted  act  of  tjTanny." 
Concerning  this  discussion,  which  consumed  much  time 
and  breath,  Otis  wrote,  March  1,  1800: 

Our  Demos  are  sick  of  their  attempt  to  inculpate  the  Execu- 
tive for  his  conduct  in  reference  to  the  pirate  Robbins.  They 
wish  to  postpone  or  rather  to  evade  the  enquiry,  but  we  hold 
them  to  it  and  it  will  occupy  next  week.  We  have  begun  upon 
the  "ways  &  means,"  &  when  the  bills  relating  to  these  are 
passed,  I  shall  consider  the  main  business  of  the  session  finished, 
and  hope  that  three  weeks  will  be  sufficient  for  these  objects. 

Other  details  in  the  course  of  congressional  business 
are  given  in  Otis's  pleasant  letters  to  his  wife: 
February  8,  1800: 

You  will  perceive  by  the  papers  that  I  have  offered  a  resolu- 
tion to  the  house  for  adjourning  the  first  monday  in  april.  Some 
of  my  friends  propose  to  amend  it  by  adding  "Provided  Mrs 
Otis  dont  come  here  before  yt  time."  The  fact  is  that  we  can 
and  ought  to  adjourn  by  that  time,  but  I  have  no  idea  the  re- 
solution will  prevail,  though  it  may  be  carried  in  our  house.  My 
object  was  to  hasten  and  dispatch  business,  and  it  has  already 
produced  that  effect.  I  still  persist  in  my  intention  to  be  home 
from  the  first  to  the  15  april,  "although  the  heathen  may  rage 
and  the  people  imagine  vain  things." 

February  13: 

My  resolution  to  adjourn  1st  Monday  in  april,  to  my  surprise 
passed  our  house  by  a  large  majority,  but  it  will  remain  some 
time  in  the  Senate.  Indeed  it  would  not  yet  be  prudent  for  the 
Senate  to  adopt  it;  for  the  jacobins  would  not  suffer  us  to  do 
any  important  business,  if  we  were  once  fairly  committed.  It 
will  however  probably  produce  the  effect  to  hasten  the  close  of 
the  session.  However  this  may  be  it  is  my  present  design  to 
leave  them  the  first  week  in  april.  Genl  Lee  says  that  if  Con- 
gress get  away  in  all  april  he  shall  tell  you  when  he  sees  you 
that  you  have  saved  the  U.  S.  thirty  thousand  dollars  at 
least. 


182  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

February  22: 

'  I  believe  that  but  for  me,  a  committee  would  have  reported 
a  resolution  for  a  day  of  annual  mourning  throughout  the  Union; 
as  if  human  nature  would  weep  at  the  word  of  command  upon 
fixed  days  &  seasons;  as  if  there  were  any  analogy  between  po- 
litical and  personal  sorrow.  I  protested  that  I  would  resist 
it  if  alone,  and  thus  gained  time,  till  returning  reflection  con- 
vinced the  friends  to  the  measure  that  it  would  not  be  advisable. 
However  this  day  produces  two  orations,  both  of  which  I  must 
hear,  &  from  both  of  which  I  am  willing  to  be  excused.  So  my 
friends  laugh  at  my  motion  to  adjourn,  but  as  it  passed  the  house, 
it  was  no  laughing  matter.  WTiether  they  adjourn  in  april  or 
not,  Nicholas  &  myself  have  agreed  to  pair  off  between  the  1st 
and  10th  of  that  month.  An  event  happened  yesterday,  which 
saves  a  full  week  at  least.  The  Bankrupt  bill  passed  the  house 
by  a  majority  of  one  yesterday  without  debate.  I  have  not  lei- 
sure now  to  inform  you  how  this  happened,  but  so  it  is,  and  it 
will  undoubtedly  pass  the  Senate.  It  is  a  great  important  poli- 
tical measure,  —  I  had  no  idea  of  its  succeeding.* 

Throughout  this  session  the  air  was  full  of  rumors 
regarding  the  next  Federalist  nomination  for  the  presi- 
dency. From  the  moment  that  John  Adams  delivered 
his  blow  to  Hamilton's  policy,  the  war  Federalists  de- 
cided on  his  fall.  A  letter  from  Theodore  Sedgwick  to 
Timothy  Pickering,  on  December  22, 1799,  indicates  that 
Otis  was  already  cognizant  of  this  plan,  and  intended  to 
thwart  it: 

The  representation  made  by  Mr.  [Otis]  ^  that  there  is  an  oli- 
garchical faction  whose  head  is  Colo.  [Pickering]  that  the  com- 
bination was  intended  to  controul  the  President  and  direct  the 

*  The  Bankruptcy  Bill,  which  was  a  favorite  measure  of  Otis,  had  failed  at 
the  last  Congress.  Sedgwick  wrote  that  it  was  important  "as  well  in  a  com- 
mercial as  in  a  political  view,"  since  it  was  likely  to  gain  Federalist  voters 
among  the  "discontented."   King,  iii,  189. 

*  This  and  other  words  in  brackets  are  in  Pickering's  handwriting.  The 
letter  is  in  the  Pickering  MSS. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  183 

executive  administration  of  the  Government.  That  the  Presi- 
dent having  discovered  the  views  of  these  men,  has  disen- 
tangled himself  from  their  controul,  and  thereby  incurred  their 
enmity;  and  that  to  reinstate  themselves  again  in  power  they 
will  oppose  his  reelection.  This  is  the  substance  of  the  general 
representation. 

In  a  mixed  company,  at  Mr.  Tilghman's  Mr.  [H.  G.  O.]  de- 
clared that  at  the  next  election,  whoever  might  be  associated 
with  Mr.  Adams,  the  electors  of  Massachusetts  would  not  give 
their  votes  uniformly,  for  fear  the  election  of  Mr.  xVdams  would, 
thereby,  be  endangered.  This  declaration  which  a  gentleman 
has  since  told  me  he  has  repeated  to  him,  as  far  as  Mr.  [H.  G.  O.] 
may  be  deemed  an  authority  is  of  the  most  mischievous  kind, 
and,  destroying  all  means  of  confidence  or  concert,  will  insure, 
with  absolute  certainty,  the  election  of  the  man  we  dread,  to, 
perhaps,  the  oflBce  of  Vice  President. 

Timothy  Pickering  was  the  fanatic  of  the  Federal  party. 
With  him,  politics  and  religion  seemed  one  and  the 
same  thing,  —  a  struggle  between  Good  which  must  be 
defended,  and  Evil  which  must  be  crushed.  The  social 
structure  of  eighteenth-century  New  England  and  the 
principles  of  Federalism  were  the  Good;  French  philo- 
sophy and  Democracy  the  Evil.  Statesmen  of  this  type 
of  mind  are  absolutely  devoid  of  tolerance,  and  careless 
of  the  means  they  employ  to  gain  their  ends,  —  witness 
the  career  of  John  Calvin  and  Robespierre,  Pickering's 
spiritual  ancestor  and  political  brother.  He  recognized  no 
rules  of  the  game  in  politics,  for  politics  were  to  him  some- 
thing more  than  a  game;  and  his  zeal  to  conquer  the  powers 
of  darkness,  embodied  in  Jefferson,  led  him  to  unworthy 
intrigues,  treasonable  correspondence,  and  avowed  dis- 
unionism,  without  the  least  consciousness  of  his  wrong- 
doing. The  following  extracts  from  his  letter  of  Decem- 
ber 23,  1799,  to  Stephen  Higginson,  part  of  which  we 
have  already  quoted,  show  that  he  was  absolutely  un- 
conscious of  his  part  in  the  intrigues  against  the  President. 


184  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

After  repeating  to  his  correspondent  the  rumors  spread  by 
Otis,  he  remarks: 

All  these  positions  you  will  know  to  be  false.  You  know  that 
I  have  not  the  talents  to  lead  a  party;  while  you  will  allow  me 
such  a  share  of  common  sense  as  must  guard  me  against  the 
miserable  ambition  and  folly  of  attempting  it.  Acting  during 
my  life  without  disguise,  and  always  manifesting,  I  trust,  the 
humility  which  I  felt;  you  will  not  believe  that  I  ever  enter- 
tained the  intention,  singly  or  with  others,  to  control  the 
President,  and  to  direct  the  executive  administration  of  the 
Government.  Neither  will  you  believe  that  disappointment  in 
this  ambitious  project  of  controul,  has  excited  the  enmity  of 
me  and  of  those  with  whom  I  think  &  act;  and  that  we  shall 
oppose  the  re-election  of  the  President,  in  order  to  reinstate 
ourselves  again  in  power. 

Then,  after  disclaiming  Otis's  imputations,  Pickering 
makes  a  statement  completely  justifying  them: 

I  will  only  add,  that  certainly  we  shall  all  be  agreed  in  the 
great  object  of  securing  federalists  for  the  two  first  magistrates 
of  the  Union:  that  all  predilections  which  would  thwart  this 
view  ought  to  be  laid  aside:  and  if  the  State  of  the  public  mind 
should  require  a  change  of  candidates,  that  Judge  Ellsworth 
&  General  Pinckney  should  be  the  substitutes," 

These  remarks  are  suflScient  evidence  that  Otis's  fears 
for  the  renomination  of  Adams  had  good  foundation. 
Hamilton  and  the  Essex  Junto  were  looking  about  for 
any  candidate  to  support  against  him.  John  Adams  was, 
to  be  sure,  a  most  uncertain  quantity,  and  tempera- 
mentally unfitted  for  his  high  position.  Though  honest, 
courageous,  and  well-meaning,  though  author  of  a  policy 
that  has  stood  the  test  of  time,  he  lacked  the  very  essen- 
tial qualities  of  firmness,  tact,  and  the  ability  to  handle 
men.  Unsteadiness  of  policy  and  violent  outbursts  of 
temper  marked  the  latter  part  of  his  administration.  At 

•  Pickering  MSS.,  xii,  371-75. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  185 

the  most  critical  periods  in  foreign  and  domestic  politics 
he  shirked  his  duty  by  long  absences  at  Quincy,  four  days 
distant  from  the  seat  of  government;  and  he  permitted 
cabinet  ministers  to  remain  in  office  for  a  full  year  after 
discovering  their  relations  with  Hamilton.  But  to  refuse 
Adams  the  renomination  would  be  to  court  Federalist 
defeat.  He  was  the  only  leader  in  his  party  possessing 
genuine  popularity,  and  his  peace  policy  pleased  the  mass 
of  Federalist  voters.  It  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to 
explain  to  them  why  he  should  be  superseded. 

In  the  early  months  of  1800  there  was  considerable  talk 
of  abandoning  Adams  and  nominating  Oliver  Ellsworth 
for  President,  as  Pickering  suggested.^  A  compromise  was 
effected,  however,  at  the  nominating  caucus,  composed  of 
the  Federalist  members  of  both  houses,  held  at  Philadel- 
phia on  or  about  INIay  3,  1800.  It  was  agreed  that  each 
Federalist  elector  should  vote  for  John  Adams  and  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  with  the  understanding  that  the 
former  should  be  elected  President.  But  the  friends  of 
Hamilton  indorsed  this  arrangement  with  the  mental 
reservation  of  electing  Pinckney,  if  possible.^ 

Otis  was  not  present  at  this  nominating  caucus.  At  the 
end  of  March  he  paired  off  with  Nicholas,  agreeably  to 
his  promise  to  Mrs.  Otis,  and  returned  to  Boston.  This 
early  departure  from  Philadelphia  enabled  him  to  take 
care  that  the  Massachusetts  Federalists  should  secure  the 
full  benefit  of    their  local  majority  in  the  presidential 

'  1896  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  i,  824-35;  King,  iii, 
209;  Wm.  G.  Brown,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  311.  An  anonymous  letter  of  March  11, 
1800,  to  the  President  (Adams  MSS.)  states  that  Hamilton,  Pickering,  Wol- 
cott,  Dayton,  Harper,  Hillhouse,  McHenry,  Carroll,  and  Sedgwick,  are  all 
working  for  the  election  of  Ellsworth. 

*  Harper  to  Otis,  August  26,  1800,  at  end  of  this  chapter;  Sewall  to  Otis, 
December  29,  1800,  at  end  of  chap,  xii;  King,  iii,  232,  240;  Steiner,  McHenry, 
459-61;  Gibbs,  ii,  398;  Hamilton,  Works,  \i,  436-37,  459;  Niles  Register,  xxv, 
258.  This  caucus  is  confused  by  most  authorities  with  the  Aurora's  "Jacobini- 
cal Conclave,"  an  entirely  different  affair. 


186  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

election.  At  that  period  there  was  no  uniformity  among 
the  states  in  choosing  presidential  electors.  In  some  they 
were  chosen  by  the  legislature;  in  others  on  a  general 
ticket  by  the  people  (the  uniform  practice  to-day);  in 
others  by  the  people  in  districts,  as  Congressmen  are 
elected.  Virginia,  down  to  the  year  1800,  employed  the 
last  method,  but  when  the  congressional  returns  of  1799 
made  it  evident  that  at  least  five  districts  in  the  state 
would  choose  Federalist  electors,  the  Republican  majority 
in  the  legislature  abolished  the  district  system  and  pro- 
vided for  a  choice  by  general  ticket.  It  therefore  behooved 
Federalist  states  to  follow  the  same  plan,  in  order  simi- 
larly to  exclude  the  Republican  minorities  within  their 
borders  from  representation  in  the  electoral  college.  In 
Massachusetts,  for  instance,  a  continuance  of  the  tra- 
ditional district  method  would  be  sure  to  give  Jefferson 
at  least  two  votes.  Otis  and  the  other  Federalist  Con- 
gressmen from  Massachusetts  wrote  a  significant  letter 
on  that  subject  on  January  31,  1800,  addressed  to  the 
Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives 
and  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  After  describing  the 
"plan  of  the  opposers  of  the  General  Government  .  .  . 
to  bend  their  power  to  democratize  the  character  of  the 
state  legislature,"  and  among  other  objects  to  secure  an 
"antifederal"  President,  they  remark: 

In  this  critical  state  of  things  we  feel  that  it  is  very  important 
to  guard  against  one  antifederal  vote  from  Massachusetts;  for 
one  vote  may  turn  the  election. 

Whether  this  is  to  be  done  by  choosing  at  large  thro'  the 
Committees,^  or  by  choosing  by  the  Legislature,  or  by  uniting 
two  or  more  districts  for  choosing,  or  in  some  other  mode  the 
wisdom  of  the  Legislature  will  determine.   We  presume  not  to 

'  This  is  either  a  mistake  for  counties,  although  it  would  seem  impossible 
for  a  mistake  to  be  made  in  a  document  signed  by  fourteen  men;  or  it  reveals 
an  extent  of  power  in  political  committees  hitherto  unsuspected. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  187 

determine  the  mode,  but  only  to  suggest  the  danger  which  we 
apprehend  and  which  we  in  this  place,  and  in  our  present  em- 
ployment, are  perhaps  better  circumstanced  to  observe  than 
our  friends  in  Massachusetts  can  be.  Excuse  us  for  suggesting 
these  ideas;  our  anxiety  for  the  event  of  the  election  must  be 
our  apology. ^° 

Legislative  action  was,  however,  postponed  to  the  next 
General  Court,  to  be  elected  in  April  and  May.  Otis  did 
his  best  to  bring  out  the  full  Federalist  vote,  by  making 
a  pungent  speech  in  the  caucus,  on  the  evening  before  the 
election.  The  result  was  not  reassuring  to  his  party.  It 
secured  a  strong  majority  in  the  General  Court,  but  its 
candidate  for  governor,  Caleb  Strong,  was  elected  by  an 
actual  majority  of  only  one  hundred.  To  allow  the  peo- 
ple to  choose  presidential  electors  by  a  general  ticket, 
under  those  circumstances,  would  be  to  run  the  risk  of 
total  defeat,  —  as  actually  happened  in  1804.  The  legis- 
lature therefore  decided  to  appoint  the  electors  itself. 
This  was  a  legal  procedure  which  was  then  practiced  in 
five  other  states;  but  depriving,  as  it  did,  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  of  a  privilege  they  had  formerly  enjoyed, 
it  aroused  great  opposition  and  cost  the  Federalists  a 
part  of  their  waning  popularity.  A  similar  move  was  con- 
templated in  Maryland,  but  the  Federalists  of  that  state 
did  not  dare  to  put  it  through. ^^ 

The  month  of  May,  1800,  was  full  of  events  important 
in  their  bearing  on  the  election.  The  congressional  nomi- 
nating caucus  was  held,  and  the  Democrats  captured  the 
state  government  of  New  York,  where  the  legislature 
chose  electors,  thus  assuring  the  twelve  votes  of  that 
state  for  Jefferson  and  Burr.  At  the  same  time  John 
Adams  came  to  a  tardy  determination  to  reorganize  his 
Cabinet.  McHenry  was  forced  to  resign  on  May  6,  after 

"  Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  xliii,  653,  collated  with  original  in  Robbins  MSS. 
I  ^^  See  Harper's  letters  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


188  H.\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

a  stormy  scene  with  the  President.  Pickering,  who  like- 
wise was  requested  to  resign,  refused,  because  he  con- 
sidered that  "several  matters  of  importance"  made  his 
continuance  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  government. 
He  was  then  summarily  expelled.  Pickering  disappeared 
shortly  from  view  in  the  wilds  of  northern  Pennsylvania, 
where  his  land  was  his  only  means  of  livelihood.  His  in- 
fluence was  so  missed,  however,  by  the  Federal  party 
in  Massachusetts,  that  a  subscription  was  taken  up  in 
180!^  to  purchase  enough  of  his  land  to  enable  him  to  re- 
turn to  Massachusetts.  This  was  an  unfortunate  act,  for 
Timothy  Pickering  became  the  Calhoun  of  New  England, 
and  the  evil  genius  of  the  Federal  party.  Otis's  name  is 
conspicuously  absent  from  the  list  of  subscribers. 

With  the  breaking-up  of  the  Hamiltonian  cabinet  cabal, 
the  adherents  of  Hamilton  and  Adams  commenced  open 
hostilities,  in  which  both  sides  seemed  entirely  to  disre- 
gard the  fact  that  their  divisions  were  Jefferson's  strength. 
Neither  side  paid  the  slightest  attention  to  the  caucus 
agreement.  The  Hamilton  group  bent  all  its  energies  to 
securing  the  election  of  Pinckney.  It  was  a  miserable 
policy,  for  conscious  as  its  authors  were  of  Adams's  popu- 
larity, they  dared  not  avow  their  object,  but  sought  to 
attain  it  by  back-stairs  intrigue,  mainly  by  tampering 
with  the  state  legislatures  that  chose  presidential  electors. 
Much  reliance  was  placed  on  the  expectation  that  the 
South  Carolina  legislature,  although  Democratic,  would 
cast  its  vote  for  Pinckney  and  Jefferson,  as  in  1797.  But 
Pinckney  refused  to  lend  his  sanction  to  this  shabby 
betrayal  of  his  running-mate.  ^^  Hamilton  made  a  journey 
to  Boston  in  the  month  of  June,  apparently  in  order  to 
persuade  the  leaders  in  the  legislature  to  appoint  electors 
who  would  "knife"  Adams,  and  stirred  things  up  on  the 

12  In  June.  Steiner,  McUenry,  459-61. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  189 

way  by  his  imprudent  speeches.  ^^  In  vain  the  Federalist 
press  attempted  to  conceal  the  schism.  It  is  not  surprising 
to  find  complaints  from  the  leaders  that  "the  public  mind 
is  puzzled  and  fretted.  People  don't  know  what  to  think, 
of  measures  or  men ;  they  are  mad  because  they  are  in  the 
dark."  —  "They  know  there  is  something  behind  the  cur- 
tain, and  they  are  angry  because  they  are  not  told  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  diflficulty."^^  Some  even  among 
Hamilton's  friends  were  disgusted.  James  McHenry  con- 
sidered his  party's  conduct  "tremulous,  timid,  feeble, 
deceptive,  &  cowardly.  They  write  private  letters.  To 
whom.''  To  each  other.  But  they  do  nothing  to  give  a 
proper  direction  to  the  public  mind."  ^^ 

Otis  was  one  of  the  few  Federalist  leaders  who  were  not 
concerned  in  the  intrigue  against  Adams.  This  much 
appears  from  his  correspondence;  but  we  look  in  vain 
for  any  indication  of  the  steps  taken  by  him  and  other 
Adams  men  to  thwart  their  opponents.  A  rumor  reached 
the  South  to  the  effect  that  "lukewarm  Federalists  and 
Adams's  private  friends,"  including  Otis,  Samuel  Dexter, 
Judge  Gushing  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  Elbridge 
Gerry,  were  using  their  influence  to  get  New  England 
electors  to  drop  Pinckney,  in  order  to  counteract  the  ex- 
tra votes  he  might  obtain  in  South  Carolina.  ^^  This  rumor 
produced  a  frantic  letter  from  Robert  Goodloe  Harper 
to  Otis,  begging  him  in  the  name  of  party  harmony  to  see 
that  Pinckney  and  Adams  were  voted  for  equally,  and 
assuring  him  that  there  would  be  no  desertion  of  Adams 
in  the  South.  We  can  infer  from  Harper's  next  letter  that 
Otis,  in  reply,  insisted  that  no  distinct  Adams  party 

"  Independent  Chronicle,  July  31,  1800;  King,  ill,  275. 
"  Gibbs.  II,  394, 409. 
15  Steiner,  462. 

"  John  Rutledge,  Jr.,  to  Hamilton,  July  17,  1800  (Steiner,  463),  and 
Harper's  letters  to  Otis  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


190  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

existed,  and  that  no  intention  was  entertained  of  de- 
priving Pinekney  of  a  full  vote;  but  certain  expressions 
of  bis  seemed  to  Harper  the  "seeds  from  which  such  a 
party  may  spring." 

President  Adams,  on  his  side,  threw  discretion  to  the 
winds,  and  inveighed  against  the  "British  faction"  and 
the  Essex  Junto,  according  to  Fisher  Ames,  "  like  one  pos- 
sessed." "  The  opposition  press  naturally  did  all  in  its 
power  to  fan  the  flames  of  jealousy  that  were  consuming 
Federalism,  and  sedulously  cultivated  a  belief  that  the 
President  was  seeking  Democratic  support.  In  August 
the  Aurora  printed  a  foolish  letter  that  Adams  had  written 
several  years  before,  accusing  the  Pinekney  brothers  of 
susceptibility  to  British  influence.  Hamilton  then  pub- 
lished a  severe  arraignment  of  Adams's  character,  and  a 
defense  of  the  Pinckneys  and  himself;  the  President's 
friends  retorted  in  kind;  and  the  campaign  of  1800  closed 
with  the  Federal  party  turned  into  a  Donnybrook  Fair,  the 
Republicans  as  amused  onlookers  egging  it  on,  while  Jef- 
ferson and  Burr  captured  the  presidential  prizes. 

Jefferson  and  Burr  each  received  73  electoral  votes, 
Adams,  65,  and  Pinekney,  64.  The  Hamiltonian  man- 
oeuvres were  thwarted  by  one  Federalist  elector  throwing 
away  his  second  vote,  and  by  a  second  refusal  of  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinekney  to  accept  the  vote  of  South  Caro- 
lina if  coupled  with  that  of  Jefferson.  ^^  To  find  so  striking 
an  instance  of  loyalty  and  unselfishness  amid  the  intrigues, 
lies,  and  petty  bickerings  of  this  campaign,  is  refreshing. 

Yet  Adams  and  Pinekney  were  defeated  by  no  acci- 
dental or  temporary  causes.  The  same  wave  that  swept 
Jefferson  into  office,  swept  the  Federalist  majority  out 
of  Congress.    Had  Otis  again  aspired  to  be  the  represen- 

"  King.ni,276. 

^*  Rev.  C.  C.  Pinekney,  Thomas  Pinekney,  156;  Hamilton,  Works,  vi,  488. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  191 

tative  of  the  First  Middle  District,  he  would  in  all  prob- 
ability have  been  disappointed,  for  young  Josiah  Quiney, 
his  successor  as  Federalist  nominee,  was  decisively  de- 
feated. It  seems  difficult  at  first  to  account  for  the  rapid 
falling-off  of  the  Federalists'  popularity  since  their  de- 
cisive victory  in  1798.  The  majority  in  the  Sixth  Congress 
had  not  abused  its  power  as  its  predecessor  had  in  the 
months  immediately  following  the  X.  Y.  Z.  disclosures. 
But  the  source  of  the  Federalists'  popularity  in  1798  lay 
in  the  fact  that  they,  in  marked  contrast  to  the  Republi- 
cans, stood  for  national  honor  and  integrity  against  for- 
eign insult  and  aggression.  By  1800  the  French  peril  had 
evaporated,  ^^  and  with  it  the  passions  and  the  enthusi- 
asm of  1798.  Meanwhile,  the  insidious  suggestions  of 
Jefferson  and  the  Democratic  editors,  to  the  effect  that 
no  French  peril  had  ever  existed,  that  the  whole  X.  Y.  Z. 
affair  had  been  concocted  by  the  Federalists  with  the  ob- 
ject of  establishing  a  standing  army  and  a  despotism,  — 
these  rumors  had  spread  and  secured  believers.  The  fruit- 
less and  tyrannical  sedition  prosecutions,  the  arrogance 
and  intolerance  of  triumphant  Federalism,  and  the  cost  of 
a  spirited  foreign  policy,  had  all  sunk  into  the  popular 
consciousness.  When  we  consider  all  these  factors,  and 
the  disgraceful  bickerings  and  intrigues  within  the  party 
itself,  the  wonder  is  not  that  Thomas  Jefferson  was  elected 
President,  but  that  John  Adams  was  so  close  a  second 
in  the  race. 

"  The  treaty  of  Mortefontaine  with  France  was  signed  September  30, 1800. 
Napoleon  in  all  probability  hastened  its  conclusion  in  order  to  influence  the 
American  elections,  as  it  undoubtedly  did.  The  very  next  day  the  secret  treaty 
of  San  Ildefonso,  ceding  Louisiana  from  Spain  to  France,  was  signed  —  a 
suflBcient  justification  for  a  maintenance  of  the  Federalist  foreign  policy. 


192  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


LETTERS  FROM  ROBERT  GOODLOE  HARPER  TO  OTIS  ON 
THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION 

Annapolis  20  June  25th  1800 

The  Jacobins  here  are  "erectis  animis,"  but,  as  usual,  on 
most  insufficient  grounds.  Your  state  has  struck  a  heax'y  & 
well  directed  blow  against  them.  This,  in  all  probability,  will 
follow  it  up.  In  that  case  their  defeat  is  certain.  I  have  letters 
from  Jersey  &  Delaware,  which  asure  me  that  no  danger  is  to 
be  apprehended  in  those  states.  Stockton,  who  is  one  of  my 
Jersey  correspondents,  speaks  in  very  positive  terms. 

I  have  yet  heard  very  little  from  South  Carolina.  One  of 
my  correspondents,  however,  in  a  letter  of  May  26th  says,  on 
the  subject  of  the  Election  "There  is  less  of  Pinckney  than  you 
would  imagine.  The  Mass  of  sentiment  seems  to  be  divided 
between  Adams  &  Jefferson."  I  mention  this  to  shew  you,  that 
the  South  Carolinians  will  not  be  actuated  by  narrow  local 
views,  but  enter  honestly  into  the  general  system.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  every  federal  Nerve  in  the  state,  will  be  erected 
in  support  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  that  no  people  in  the  Union 
would  more  decidedly  reject  any  attempt  to  supersede  him. 
They  will  also  support  Pinckney,  upon  the  general  ground  of 
giving  the  friends  of  the  gov't  two  strings  to  their  bow  instead 
of  one.  .  .  . 

Baltimore  August  28th  1800 
My  dear  Otis 

I  fear  you  and  your  friends  in  Boston  are  ruining  every 
thing.  We  understand  here,  that  a  party  in  Boston,  which  is 
called  Mr.  Adams's  Party  and  led  by  Messrs  Dexter  Otis  Knox 
Cushing  Jackson^^  &  Gerry,  is  making  the  utmost  exertion  to 
get  the  vote  of  that  state  thrown  away  from  Genl  Pinckney,  in 

^^  Harper  moved  permanently  to  Baltimore  in  1799,  but  continued  to 
represent  the  Ninety-six  District  of  South  Carolina  until  the  close  of  the 
Sixth  Congress. 

*'  Samuel  Dexter,  the  Secretary  of  War;  Major-General  Henry  Knox; 
Judge  William  Cushing,  of  the  Supreme  Court;  Charles  Jackson,  a  Boston 
lawyer. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  193 

order  to  favour,  exclusively,  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams.  Dexter 
Otis  Knox  &  —  Gerry,  in  the  same  line.  Creditisne  Pisones ! 
This  idea  does  unconscionable  mischief.  The  federalists  here, 
&  in  South  Carolina,  are  making  the  fairest  &  the  most  zealous 
exertions  in  favour  of  Mr.  Adams.  They  wish  to  secure  the  elec- 
tion to  him  if  possible,  but  knowing  that  to  be  doubtful,  they 
think  themselves  obliged,  by  every  principle  of  duty  to  their 
cause  &  their  Country,  to  support  Genl  Pinckney  at  the  same 
time,  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  his  popularity  in  the  south- 
ern states,  should  their  other  hope  fail.  But  can  it  be  expected 
that  they  will  continue  the  same  efforts,  if  they  know  that  this 
hope  also  is  to  be  taken  from  them,  through  the  exclusive  at- 
tachment of  Mr.  Adams's  friends  in  Massachusetts,  to  his  in- 
terests.' They  cannot  be  expected  to  do  it.  They  will  not  do 
it.  I  know  they  will  not.  Reflect  on  the  consequences  of  an 
abatement  in  their  exertions. 

Do  you  calculate  on  the  certainty  of  Mr.  Adams's  Success, 
so  as  to  justify  men  attached  to  the  federal  cause,  in  dividing 
the  other  vote?  We  understand  that  you  do.  For  God's  sake 
review  the  calculation  &  consider  it  well.  Suffer  not  yourselves 
to  be  misled  by  the  warmth  of  your  wishes.  On  what,  I  pray 
you,  does  that  calculation  rest?  Can  you  make  it  more  favour- 
able than  the  one  contained  in  the  enclosed  paper?  From  that 
you  will  find,  and  I  believe  it  may  be  depended  on,  that  Mr. 
Adams  cannot  be  elected  without  either  getting  two  votes  at 
least  from  South  Carolina,  or  seven  from  North  Carolina  instead 
of  five,  or  nine  from  Maryland  instead  of  seven. 

That  he  will  get  a  vote  in  South  Carolina  is  extremely  doubt- 
ful. The  most  zealous  exertions  are  making,  and  unless  dampt 
by  you,  will  continue  to  be  made,  in  his  favour  by  the  federalists 
there,  but  their  success  is  extremely  uncertain.  This  is  the  uni- 
form tenour  of  all  my  letters  from  them,  several  of  which  are 
very  late.  The  mode  of  choice  by  the  legislature  occasions  this 
extreme  uncertainty,  by  exposing  the  choice  to  the  influence 
of  a  few  artful  jacobins,  who  will  attend  the  Legislature,  and 
may  mislead  the  uninformed  though  well-meaning  men  of  whom 
it  is  composed;  although  they  could  produce  little  or  no  effect 
on  the  people  at  large. 

As  to  North  Carolina,  nothing  that  I  have  seen  or  heard, 
warrants  a  reliance  on  more  than  five  votes  in  that  state.  More 


194  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

are  hoped  for  by  the  federal  men  there,  but  not  counted  on.  My 
information  is  from  Grove  with  whom  I  correspond,  &  from 
Judge  IMoore  ^^  of  that  state,  whom  I  have  very  lately  seen.  In 
those  districts  whereon  we  count,  there  is  division  &  opposition, 
and  the  event,  of  course,  like  that  of  all  other  popular  contests, 
is  more  or  less  uncertain. 

To  come  now  to  Maryland,  there  is  every  thing  short  of 
moral  certainty,  that  should  district  elections  continue,  Mr. 
Jefferson  will  get  three  votes.  There  is  much  probability  of  his 
getting  four.  The  federalists  are  labouring  to  change  the  mode 
to  a  Legislative  choice,  and  there  are  good  hopes  of  their  suc- 
cess. But  it  is  very  far  from  being  certain.  This  measure  is  now 
the  point  of  contest  in  a  popular  election.  The  mass  of  the  people 
is  well  disposed,  at  least  a  very  great  majority,  but  they  are 
inconveably  [sic]  attached  to  w^hat  they  call  the  privilege  of 
voting  for  the  electors  in  districts.  An  immense  clamour  is 
raised  by  the  antifederalists  about  what  they  denominate  the 
attempt  to  deprive  the  people  of  their  privileges.  It  produces 
an  effect  which  I  did  not  foresee.  Even  three  weeks  ago,  I  did 
not  foresee  it.  There  was  much  difficulty  in  persuading  the 
federalists  to  venture  on  the  ground.  When  they  first  took  it, 
the  public  mind  appeared  to  acquiesce  in  the  plan.  Now  there 
are  strong  appearances  of  its  taking  a  different  turn.  So  much 
is  said  to  the  people  about  the  privilege  of  voting,  and  they  ex- 
press so  blind  an  attachment  to  it,  that  I  much  doubt,  very 
much  indeed,  whether  they  will  be  persuaded  to  elect  any  men 
into  the  Legislature,  but  such  as  will  pledge  themselves  not  to 
vote  for  depriving  them  of  this  privilege.^^ 

This  opinion  is  the  result  of  very  recent  information  from 
several  counties  of  the  state,  and  of  conversations  with  several 
leading  and  well-informed  federal  candidates.  I  still  have  hopes 
of  succeeding.  Until  lately  I  was  very  confident.  At  present  I 
greatly  doubt. 

I  beseach  you,  my  dear  Otis,  to  weigh  these  circumstances  and 
to  test  your  estimates  by  these  facts.  I  declare  to  you  in  truth 

22  William  Barry  Grove  and  Alfred  Moore. 

23  cf .  next  letter;  Harper  to  Dayton,  July  2, 1800,  in  Bulletin  of  the  Neip  York 
Public  Library,  iv,  115;  Harper's  pamphlet  entitled  Bystander,  or  a  Series  of 
Letters  on  the  Subject  of  the  Legislative  choice  of  Electors  in  Maryland,  Baltimore, 
1800;  and  K.  M.  Rowland,  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollion,  u,  234. 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  195 

and  sincerity,  that  I  am  labouring  with  all  my  might  to  pro- 
mote the  election  of  Mr.  Adams.  I  further  declare  that  had  I 
not,  from  the  moment  of  the  New  York  election,  considered  it 
doubtful  in  the  extreme,  I  never  would  have  countenanced,  much 
less  have  proposed,  the  scheme  of  bringing  forward  Genl.  Pinck- 
ney  &  making  him  pari  passu.  This  declaration  I  made,  in  the 
most  pointed  terms,  at  that  meeting,^^  the  objects  of  which  are 
supposed  by  some  to  have  been  so  much  misunderstood  by  Mr. 
Adams.  I  know  this  to  be  the  sentiment  throughout  my  own 
state,  this  state,  and  North  Carolina.  At  the  same  time,  I  de- 
clare, with  equal  frankness,  that  I  prefer  Genl.  Pinckney  to  Mr. 
Adams;  not  from  personal  motives,  for  I  am  personally  on  ill- 
terms  with  Genl.  Pinckney  &  always  have  been,  while  I  have 
every  reason  to  be  satisfied,  &  even  pleased,  with  the  Conduct 
of  Mr.  Adams  towards  myself;  but  because  I  think  the  former, 
in  my  Conscience,  better  qualified  to  conduct  the  government. 
This,  however,  is  a  private  sentiment,  which  I  do  not  suffer  to 
influence  my  conduct.  I  support  Mr.  Adams  as  well  as  Genl. 
Pinckney,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  &  means,  because  I  think 
that  the  good  of  the  common  cause  requires  it,  and  that  the 
cause  ought  to  be  preferred  to  the  individual.  I  know  very 
many  federalists,  men  too  of  high  name  &  influence,  who  feel 
as  I  do  on  this  subject.  They  also  act  in  the  same  manner. 
They  sacrifice  their  particular  preference  to  a  general  prin- 
ciple. ^^ 

But,  let  me  repeat  it  again,  unless  they  find  a  similar  disposi- 
tion in  the  particular  friends  of  Mr.  Adams,  they  will  cease 
thus  to  act.  They  know  the  success,  at  least,  to  be  uncertain. 
They  know  that  of  Mr.  Adams  to  be  much  more  so.  They 
therefore  wish  to  encrease  the  chance,  by  joining  Genl.  Pinck- 
ney in  the  federal  ticket.  But  if  they  find  that  this  source  of 
hope  is  to  be  cut  off,  &  every  thing  exposed  to  the  greatest  haz- 
ard, through  exclusive  attachment,  in  some,  to  Mr.  Adams;  in 
short  that  the  man  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  cause;  it  is  difficult 

^*  The  nominating  caucus,  in  Philadelphia. 

25  McHenry  writes  Wolcott,  July  22,  "Mr.  Harper  is  very  clearly  of  opinion 
that  General  Pinckney  ought  to  be  preferred."  Gibbs,  n,  385.  Cabot  said  in  a 
letter  to  Hamilton,  August  21,  "Mr.  Harper  writes  from  Baltimore  on  the  11th 
inst,  that  our  friends  may  now  count  with  some  certainty,  indeed  very  great, 
certainty,  on  an  unanimous  vote  for  Mr.  Pinckney  in  Maryland."  Hamilton, 
Works,  VI,  459. 


196  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

to  foresee  to  what  extent  they  may  be  disgusted,  and  their 
exertions  abated  by  such  a  discovery. 

This,  let  me  add,  is  the  last  hope  of  the  Jacobins.  They  ex- 
ultingly  declare,  that  Mr.  Adams'  friends  will  drop  Pinckney; 
that  a  division,  or  at  least  a  coldness,  will  thus  be  produced; 
that  a  division  of  the  federal  strength  will  thus  take  place;  and 
that  the  result  will  be  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  They  work 
against  Adams  with  all  their  might;  &  have  little  doubt  of  de- 
feating him.  At  the  same  time  they  endeavour  to  work  on  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Adams  to  defeat  Pinckney  likewise;  thus  to  get 
clear  of  both. 

We  learn  here  that  Mr.  Adams  has  declared  his  willingness 
to  be  joined  in  the  same  ticket  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  but  we  can- 
not believe  it.  If  we  could,  it  certainly  would  not  encrease  our 
respect  for  his  heart  or  his  understanding.  It  is  made  use  of, 
by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  an  argument  in  his  favour, 
against  Mr.  Adams  himself. 

Lay  these  things,  my  dear  Otis,  seriously  to  heart.  I  write 
them  through  a  strong  conviction  of  their  importance;  utterly 
uncertain  how  they  may  be  received.  Let  your  friends  weigh 
them;  some  of  whom  I  have  the  happiness  of  calling  my  friends 
also,  &  hope  that  they  consider  me  in  the  same  light.  We  are 
in  no  common  times,  nor  threatened  by  a  danger  of  ordinary 
magnitude.  Our  situation  admits  of.no  experiments,  no  haz- 
zards  on  the  mere  calculation  of  Chances;  no  sporting  with  any 
part  of  our  means.  Depend  upon  it,  the  fair  full  &  united  ex- 
ertion of  them  all,  is  imperiously  called  for  by  our  situation. 
Should  we  suffer  particular  views,  personal  attachments,  or 
sanguine  estimates  of  the  strength  of  particular  candidates, 
to  produce  a  division  of  our  force,  we  shall  lose  an  opportunity 
perhaps  never  to  be  regained;  &  may  live  to  see  our  country 
mourn,  in  blood  &  ashes,  over  the  consequences  of  our  mistaken 
policy. 

God  bless  you  my  dear  Otis.   Remember  me,  &  believe  me 

with  sincere  affection 

your  friend  &  Hbl  Servt 

Rob:  G:  Harper 


INTRIGUE  AND  DEFEAT  197 

Sept  3d 

Yesterday  I  received  a  letter  from  Grove,  dated  August 
24th.  He  says  that  we  are  certain  of  five  in  that  state  &  have 
hopes  of  seven.  He  &  your  friend  Hill  ^^  are  re-elected,  the 
former  by  a  vast  majority. 

R.  G.  H. 

Baltimore  Octr.  10th  1800 

My  dear  Otis 

You  have  in  a  very  great  degree  quieted  my  alarms,  but  not 
entirely  removed  my  apprehensions.  For  though  you  assure 
me  that  no  such  party  as  I  spoke  of,  has  been  actually  formed, 
&  that  the  \aews  of  certain  gentlemen  whom  I  highly  respect, 
do  not  extend  as  far  as  I  had  been  taught  to  believe;  yet,  with 
the  most  perfect  reliance  on  your  candour  and  sincerity,  which 
I  trust  you  need  not  be  assured  by  me  that  I  feel,  I  cannot  but 
discern,  in  some  expressions  of  your  letter,  the  seeds  from  which 
such  a  party  may  spring,  and  certain  openings  to  the  most  dan- 
gerous extent  of  those  exclusive  views,  which  I  so  greatly  dep- 
recate. 

Why,  for  instance,  do  you  speak  of  Mr.  Pinckney  as  the  Com- 
peiitor  of  Mr.  Adams?  I  solemnly  assure  you  that  I  have  never 
heard  him  so  spoken  of  by  those  who  proposed  the  policy  of 
bringing  him  forward. ^^  They  intend  him,  solely,  as  a  prudent 
mariner  does  a  spare  yard,  which  he  wishes  to  have  on  board, 
lest  that  on  which  he  places  his  chief  reliance  should  fail  him  in 
a  storm.  In  this  light  I  know  he  is  viewed  here  &  every  where 
to  the  Southward,  including  South  Carolina.  Is  it  without  cause 
that  I  dread  the  operation  of  those  feelings  which  lead  us  to 
consider  and  represent  him  in  the  light  of  a  Competitor. 

Neither  is  it  by  any  means  certain  that  Mr.  Pinckney  or  Mr. 
Jefferson  must  be  president  in  case  Massachusetts  should  vote 
for  the  former;  for  recent  accounts  from  South  Carolina,  give 
me  very  strong  reason  to  believe,  that  all  the  votes  of  that  state 
will  be  for  Mr.  Adams,  as  well  as  for  Mr.  Pinckney.  The  general 
dispositions  of  the  people  are  most  strong  in  favour  of  Mr. 

"  William  H.  Hill  of  North  Carolina. 

^'  This  statement  is  hard  to  believe.  Harper  was  in  communication  with 
Cabot  and  McHenry,  both  of  whom  considered  Pinckney  very  much  the  com- 
petitor of  Adams,  and  he  must  have  talked  with  other  Hamiltonians  in  Phila- 
delphia who  held  the  same  views. 


198  HxUlRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Adams;  so  much  so  that  my  correspondents  assure  me,  that  if 
the  people  individually  were  to  vote  for  President,  he  would 
have  at  least  four  fifths  of  the  votes.  I  know  that  every  nerve 
of  the  federal  interest  in  that  state,  including  all  the  friends 
&  connections  of  the  Pinckneys,  and  the  Pinckneys  themselves, 
(the  letter  to  Tenche  Coxe  notwithstanding,)  will  be  strained 
to  produce  a  corresponding  result  in  the  Legislature.  Those  who 
suspect  otherwise,  do  not  form  a  just  estimate  of  the  magna- 
nimity and  greatness  of  mind  which  characterize  those  two 
men  &  their  principal  friends. 

As  to  this  state,  I  entertain  some  better  hopes  than  I  did 
when  I  wrote  to  you  last.  Since  that  time  I  have  attended  one 
of  the  supreme  courts,  &  passed  through  several  of  the  counties. 
I  have  seen,  or  heard  from,  our  friends  in  most  of  them.  The 
result  is  a  much  stronger  reliance  than  I  lately  had,  on  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Legislative  Choice.  But  it  is  still  far  from  being  cer- 
tain. The  election  takes  place  next  Monday,  yesterday  week. 
After  the  result  of  that  is  known,  we  shall  be  able  to  form  a  more 
decided  opinion. 

Upon  the  whole,  my  dear  friend,  I  shall  still  hope  for  the  best, 
and  exert  all  my  little  strength  in  promoting  the  good  cause. 
I  shall  moreover  rely  confidently  on  your  assurance,  that  you 
will  adopt  that  policy  on  which,  in  my  judgment,  our  safety  de- 
pends, "as  soon  as  you  shall"  be  ivell  satisfied  that  the  election 
will  otherwise  be  put  in  jeopardy.  I  cannot,  however,  but  feel 
some  very  unpleasant  forebodings,  when  I  recollect  that  you 
are  yet  to  be  satisfied  of  a  fact,  the  evidence  of  which,  to  my 
mind,  seems  so  compleat. 

God  bless  you  &  keep  you,  is  the  prayer  of  your  affectionate 
friend 

Rob:  G:  Harper 


CHAPTER  XII 

JEFFERSON   OR   BURR? 
1800-1801,  ^T  35 

Otis's  last  session  in  Congress  as  a  Representative 
from  Massachusetts  began  on  November  30,  1800,  after 
the  popular  verdict  on  his  party's  performances  had  been 
given.  The  Federal  government  was  now  permanently 
removed  to  Washington.  No  room  could  be  found  in  the 
half-finished  Capitol  for  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which  was  therefore  relegated  to  a  temporary  brick  build- 
ing, disrespectfully  known  as  the  "Oven,"  attached 
to  the  south  wing.  It  was  kept  from  falling  in  on  the  as- 
sembled Congressmen  only  by  strong  temporary  shorings. 

The  third  session  of  the  Sixth  Congress  is  of  peculiar 
interest  not  only  for  the  election  of  the  President  by  the 
House,  but  for  the  curious  spectacle  of  the  Federalists 
maintaining  and  even  extending  their  system,  in  spite  of 
the  rebuke  administered  to  it  in  the  recent  elections. 
Nowadays,  a  due  regard  for  public  opinion  prevents  a  de- 
feated party  from  abusing  that  strange  provision  in  our 
Constitution  which  permits  a  Congress  to  sit  for  half  a 
year  subsequent  to  the  election  of  its  successor.  But  the 
Federal  party  always  marched  straight  forward,  without 
paying  much  attention  to  the  vox  populi,  which  it  deemed 
a  very  different  thing  from  the  vox  dei.  "We  shall  profit 
of  our  short-lived  majority,"  writes  John  Rutledge,  Jr., 
"and  do  as  much  good  as  we  can  before  the  end  of  this 
session."^ 

*  Hamilton,  Works,  vn,  511. 


200  HARRISON  GRAY  ^OTIS 

The  President  in  his  opening  address  advised  Congress 
to  maintain  the  navy  that  he  had  done  so  much  to  create. 
This  advice  was  not  needed  by  Federahsts,  and  not  heeded 
by  their  Repubhcan  successors.  Congress  also  maintained 
the  army  in  statu  quo.  Otis  in  a  long  speech  expressed  his 
surprise  and  disapproval  of  the  semi-annual  Democratic 
proposal  to  reduce  it;  he  also  "hoped  his  friends  would 
do  nothing  that  might  be  construed  into  a  death-bed  re- 
pentance of  a  conduct  that  constituted  their  glory  and 
their  pride." 

The  attempt  this  session  to  renew  the  odious  Sedition 
Act  is  the  most  striking  instance  of  the  unteachableness  of 
Federalism.  Otis,  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  of  January  24, 
1801,  gives  a  little  inside  history  of  this  episode: 

We  have  had  a  very  animated  though  unexpected  dejjate 
upon  the  old  story  of  the  sedition  bill.  The  resolution  to  con- 
tinue the  law  was  introduced  by  the  Chairman  of  a  Committee 
who  does  not  often  address  the  house,  a  Mr  Piatt.  The  inten- 
tion was  to  take  the  question  without  debate,  expecting  to  lose 
it,  when  some  Anti,  to  puzzle  Piatt  called  on  him  to  give  his 
reasons  for  renewing  the  law.  For  this  fortunately  he  was 
prepared  and  spake  like  a  man  of  sense  and  a  gentleman.  The 
gauntlet  being  thrown,  a  general  engagement  ensued  which 
lasted  three  days,  and  in  which  of  course  I  was  compelled  to 
take  a  part.  We  however  carried  the  question  by  a  majority 
of  one.  The  bill  nevertheless  I  fear  will  finally  be  lost. 

Otis's  letter  seems  to  indicate  that  the  measure  was  not 
intended  to  be  carried,  but  only  to  be  brought  forward 
on  principle,  and  that  the  whole  party  defended  it,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  imputation  of  a  "death-bed  repent- 
ance." It  is  hard  to  conceive  what  other  objects  they  could 
have  had  in  view,  for  the  Sedition  Act,  if  enforced  after 
March  4, 1801,  would  have  turned  the  tables  on  Federalist 
scribblers.  The  measure  was  finally  defeated,  although  it 
received  five  more  votes  than  the  original  Sedition  Act. 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  201 

In  January,  1801,  Otis  was  appointed  chairman  of  a 
committee  to  report  on  the  condition  of  the  Treasury. 
This  was  no  easy  task,  since  no  examination  had  been 
made  for  some  years;  and  was  therefore  extremely  im- 
portant to  the  party  in  view  of  gross  charges  of  extrava- 
gance and  peculation  preferred  against  Pickering  and 
Wolcott  by  the  scurrilous  Philadelphia  Aurora.  In  the 
course  of  the  investigation  there  broke  out  at  the  Treas- 
ury building  a  fire,  which,  according  to  the  Aurora,  was 
set  by  Oliver  Wolcott  himself  to  cover  his  misdeeds.  Otis 
wrote  regarding  this  matter  on  January  29: 

The  infamous  suggestions  to  the  disadvantage  of  Wolcot, 
ought  to  be  punished  with  any  thing  but  death.  They  are  atro- 
cious and  as  unfounded  as  the  pretensions  of  the  authors  to 
honor  and  veracity.  Wolcot  had  done  with  the  office  and  left 
it.  The  examination  of  the  state  of  the  Treasury  had  been 
compleated,  and  in  fact  no  papers  are  burnt  of  any  consequence 
except  those  of  Mr  Francis  and  Mr  Whelen,  in  the  destruction 
of  which  it  is  palpable  Wolcot  could  have  no  interest. 

The  report  of  our  Committee  is  highly  honorable  to  the 
Secretary  and  was  unanimous,  Nicholas,  Nicholson  &  Stone,^ 
being  three  of  the  Committee.  This  will  set  all  matters 
right. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  piece  of  legislation  during 
this  session  was  the  Judiciary  Act,  extending  and  strength- 
ening the  federal  judiciary.  Although  of  no  practical  re- 
sult, because  it  was  shortly  afterwards  repealed  by  a  Re- 
publican Congress,  the  act  must  be  looked  upon  as  the 
last  word  of  the  Federalist  system.  We  no  longer  need 
vindicate  its  authors  from  the  charge  of  passing  it  simply 
to  create  life  offices  for  worthy  Federalists.^  But  what  their 
motives  actually  were  has  not  yet  been  made  clear.  Over 

2  John  Nicholas  of  Virginia,  Joseph  H.  Nicholson  of  Maryland,  and  David 
Stone  of  North  Carolina,  all  Democrats. 

*  Max  Farrand:  "The  Judiciary  Act  of  1801,"  in  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  v,  682. 


202  H.VRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

a  year  previous  to  the  presidential  election,  certain  lead- 
ers of  the  party,  perceiving  that  the  federal  judiciary  was 
the  strong  arm  of  the  Federalist  system,  and  the  only 
barrier  to  state  interference,  proposed  its  extension. 
As  Fisher  Ames  expressed  the  idea,  "The  steady  men  in 
Congress  will  attempt  to  extend  the  judicial  department. 
.  .  .  There  is  no  way  to  combat  the  state  opposition  but 
by  an  eflScient  and  extended  organization  of  judges, 
magistrates,  and  civil  oflBcers."  ^  In  this  branch  of  the 
government  the  Federalists  hoped  to  preserve  their  car- 
dinal principle,  federal  supremacy  over  the  states,  against 
the  decentralizing  doctrines  of  Jeffersonian  Democracy; 
and  they  succeeded. 

Otis  took  very  little  part  in  the  debate  on  the  Judici- 
ary Bill,  which  increased  the  number  of  judicial  districts 
from  seventeen  to  twenty -two,  and  created  a  new  series 
of  circuit  courts.  This  establishment  was  unnecessarily 
large  for  the  needs  of  the  country,  and  conservation  of 
Federalist  principles  was  assured  by  the  appointment 
of  John  Marshall  as  chief  justice,  not  by  any  extension  of 
the  system.  As  soon  as  the  bill  was  reported,  Otis's  mail 
was  flooded  with  applications  for  the  new  circuit  judge- 
ships. His  former  patron.  Judge  Lowell,  wished  one. 
George  Richards  Minot,  known  as  "The  American  Sall- 
ust"  for  his  history  of  Shays's  Rebellion,  modestly  pro- 
posed to  receive  the  district  judgeship  left  vacant  by 
Lowell,  to  retain  his  present  oflSce  of  Judge  of  Probate, 
and  to  "  devote  any  leisure  he  might  have,  to  literary 
pursuits  particularly  in  the  line  of  History."  —  "Such 
laudable  and  liberal  views  seem  to  merit  encourage- 
ment,'* adds  his  recommender.  Otis  himself  was  as- 
piring to  the  position  of  Solicitor-General  of  Massa- 
chusetts, a  place  which  went  to  another,  on  account  of 

*  December  29, 1799,  Gibbs,  n,  316.  Cf.  King,  in,  147. 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  203 

geographical  considerations.   On  February  18  he  writes 
Mrs.  Otis: 

The  President  has  this  day  nomminated  me  to  be  attorney 
for  the  United  States  in  the  district  of  Massachusetts.  This  is 
the  same  place  which  was  offered  to  me  by  Genl  Washington 
and  decHned  for  the  honor  of  coming  to  Congress.  It  is  analo- 
gous to  the  offices  of  Attorney  &  Solicitor  General,  but  more 
eligible  for  me  as  I  shall  be  stationary  in  Boston.  One  circum- 
stance against  it  is  I  shall  hold  it  during  the  Pleasure  of  the 
President,  and  though  his  friends  say  he  will  not  change  any 
officers  but  the  heads  of  departments,  yet  I  presume  in  the  course 
of  a  twelvemonth  he  will  oust  them  all. 

As  Otis  predicted,  his  tenure  of  office  was  short,  for 
Jefferson,  considering  it  no  doubt  a  "  midnight  appoint- 
ment," removed  him  before  the  year  was  out.^ 

The  most  important  duty  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  the  Sixth  Congress  was  to  choose  a  President. 
Owing  to  the  smooth  working  of  the  Republican  machine, 
and  the  clumsy  method  of  electoral  voting  then  pre- 
scribed, Jefferson  and  Burr  were  tied  for  the  presidency 
with  73  votes  each.  According  to  the  Constitution,  the 
duty  of  choosing  between  them  fell  on  the  House  of 

^  Samuel  A.  Otis  wrote  Jefiferson,  March  11,  1801:  "Your  goodness  will 
excuse  my  taking  this  opportunity  to  mention  my  son  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
atty.  for  the  Massachusetts  district;  reinstated  intheoflBce  by  Mr.  Adams  to 
which  he  was  originally  appointed  by  Gen.  Washington.  He  resigned  the  office 
on  being  elected  to  Congress  and  sacrificed  a  business  that  would  have  yielded 
him  20000  dollars.  With  a  large  and  increasing  family  it  became  imprudent  for 
him  longer  to  continue  in  Congress.  .  .  .  On  retiring  Mr.  Adams  reinstated  him 
in  his  former  office,  become  vacant  by  Mr.  Davis'  promotion;  and  in  which 
should  you  be  pleased  to  continue  him,  I  am  confident  he  will  discharge  his 
duties  with  honor  &  fidelitj',  in  doing  which  you  will  oblige  an  affectionate 
father."  Jefferson  MSS.,  2d  ser.,  Lxiv,  16.  Naturally  this  reasoning  did  not 
appeal  to  Jefferson.  Samuel  Otis,  however,  retained  his  post  as  Secretary  of 
the  Senate.  The  only  movement  against  him  came  from  the  Hamiltonians, 
who  tried  to  persuade  him  to  resign  on  the  ground  that  the  Republicans  would 
surely  supersede  him.  His  estimate  of  H.  G.  Otis's  probable  income  was  greatly 
exaggerated;  ten  thousand  a  year  was  the  highest  possible  income  to  be  got 
from  the  law  in  1800.  F.  Ames,  Works,  i,  301. 


201  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Representatives,  the  members  voting  by  states,  each  state 
having  one  vote,  and  a  majority  of  votes  being  necessary 
for  a  choice. 

This  exigency  had  been  contemplated  by  the  Federal- 
ists since  August,  and  by  January  the  party  was  almost 
unanimous  in  the  decision  to  use  all  its  strength  in  the 
House  to  promote  the  election  of  Aaron  Burr  over 
Thomas  Jefferson.  So  great  was  their  dread  and  detes- 
tation of  the  leader  of  the  Republican  party  that  Aaron 
Burr  seemed  by  far  the  lesser  evil  to  those  ignorant  of 
his  true  character.^  Many,  even,  who  knew  the  unprin- 
cipled nature  of  the  man,  favored  his  election  from  the 
unworthy  motives  of  spite,  and  the  expectation  that 
Burr  could  be  kept  "right"  by  corruption.  For  much 
the  same  reason,  great  business  concerns  of  to-day 
prefer  an  easy-going  grafter  in  power  to  an  upright  rad- 
ical who  threatens  their  interests.  Among  those  who 
shared  these  opinions  were  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Massachusetts,'^  and  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  who  wrote 
Hamilton,  December  17,  1800: 

Dear  Sir: 

There  exists  the  strongest  probability  that  the  electoral  votes 
are  equally  divided  between  Messrs.  Jefferson  and  Burr,  We 
have  certain  advices  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and 
wait  only  for  intelligence  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to 
ascertain  the  fact.  The  gentlemen  of  the  opposition  are  of  the 
opinion  that  this  will  be  the  case.  The  question  now  is,  in  what 
mode  shall  the  friends  of  the  federal  government  take  advan- 
tage of  this  casualty?  Can  any  terms  be  obtained  from  Mr.  Burr 
favorable  to  the  true  interest  of  the  country,  and  is  he  a  man 
who  will  adhere  to  terms  when  stipulated?  Is  it  advisable  to 
attempt  a  negotiation  with  him  —  and  in  what  manner  and 

^  See  Theophilus  Parsons's  letter,  at  end  of  this  chapter.  The  sentiments  of 
almost  every  Federalist  leader  are  recorded  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vi,  486 
et  seq. 

"*  Sec  Sewall's  letter  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  205 

through  what  channel  shall  it  be  conducted?  We  are  mcHned  to 
believe  that  some  advantage  may  be  derived  from  it,  but 
few  of  us  have  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Burr.  It 
is  palpable  that  to  elect  him  would  be  to  cover  the  opposition 
with  chagrin,  and  to  sow  among  them  the  seeds  of  a  morbid 
division.  But  whether  in  any  event  he  would  act  with  the 
friends  to  the  Constitution,  or  endeavor  to  redeem  himself  with 
his  own  party  by  the  violence  of  his  measures  and  the  over- 
throw of  the  Constitution,  is  a  doubt  which  you  may  assist  us  to 
resolve.  Your  local  situation  and  personal  acquaintance  with 
these  men  and  the  state  of  parties,  enables  you  to  give  an  opinion 
upon  a  subject  in  which  all  the  friends  to  the  country  have  a 
common  interest,  and  if  you  can  venture  to  repose  your  confi- 
dence in  me,  I  will  most  solemnly  pledge  myself  that  your  senti- 
ments shall  be  reserved  within  my  own  breast,  or  communicated 
only  to  those  whom  you  may  designate.  Should  our  expecta- 
tion be  realized,  which  we  shall  know  in  a  day  or  two,  is  it  ad- 
visable to  send  a  messenger  to  New- York  to  confer  with  friends 
there,  or  attempt  to  bring  Mr.  Burr  here?  What  should  be  the 
outlines  of  an  agreement  \\ath  him,  and  (alas !  it  is  a  difficult 
question,)  what  security  can  be  devised  for  his  adherence  to  it? 

I  am  anxious  to  act  correctly  and  judiciously.  It  would  be 
distressing  to  omit  or  misdirect  an  effort  which  might  be  bene- 
ficial to  the  country,  or  preserve  the  Constitution,  and  I  pre- 
sume that  honor  and  duty  will  sanction  every  endeavor  to 
preserve  it,  even  by  an  ineligible  instrument.  The  treaty  is  ^  be- 
fore the  Senate,  and  I  believe  will  be  found  another  chapter  in 
the  book  of  humiliation. 

All  claims  for  spoliation,  it  is  said,  are  suspended  during  the 
war,  all  public  ships  captured  by  each  party  are  to  be  surren- 
dered, and  in  the  language  of  the  case  of  BuUum  v.  Boatum, 
after  paying  all  costs  we  are  permitted  to  begin  again  de  novo. 
It  is  very  doubtful  in  my  mind  whether  the  Senate  will  ratify.^ 

Hamilton's  clear  view  penetrated  this  sophistry.  By 
bitter  experience  he  knew,  through  and  through,  the 
character  of  the  man  by  whose  hand  he  was  destined  to 
die.     He  perceived  the  lasting  disgrace  that  his  party 

*  The  treaty  of  Mortefontaine,  with  France. 
»  Hamilton,  Works,  vi,  490. 


206  KMIRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

would  incur  by  elevating  such  a  man  to  the  presidency. 
But  his  wise  counsel  was  not  heeded.  Just  before  the  elec- 
tion in  the  House,  the  Federalist  caucus  decided  to  sup- 
port Burr;  only  four  members,  not  including  Otis,  opposed 
the  decision.^"  It  was  decided  to  commence  balloting  on 
February  11,  immediately  after  the  formal  count  of  the 
electoral  vote,  and  to  continue  without  adjournment  until 
a  decision  was  reached. 

Otis's  correspondence  throws  no  new  light  on  the  ques- 
tion of  Aaron  Burr's  attitude  toward  this  movement  in 
his  behalf,  or  of  whether  a  bargain  was  actually  concluded 
between  him  and  the  Federalists,  as  Otis  had  suggested 
in  his  letter  to  Hamilton.  But  it  gives  a  conclusive  answer 
to  the  charge  made  at  the  time,  and  since  frequently 
repeated,  that  the  Federalist  Congressmen  intended  to 
prevent  an  election,  and  to  usurp  the  government  by 
legislative  act,  if  they  could  not  elect  Burr.  Rumors  to 
that  effect  were  current  at  the  time,  and  were  deemed  suf- 
ficiently serious  by  the  Republican  leaders  to  warrant 
plans  for  a  counter-stroke,  by  force  of  arms  if  necessary." 
There  is  no  doubt  that  certain  hot-heads  in  the  party  did 
justify  these  apprehensions.  Judge  Sewall,  for  instance, 
wrote  Otis,  "it  is  possible  that  an  election  at  this  time  .  .  . 
may  be  wholly  prevented.  This  is  most  desirable."  But 
the  Federalist  congressmen  concerned  always  denied  that 

^°  [R.  H.  and  J.  A.  Bayard,  eds.]  Documents  Relating  to  the  Presidential 
Election  in  the  Year  1801,  Philadelphia,  1831,  p.  5.  This  pamphlet  (brought 
out  by  James  A.  Bayard's  sons,  on  account  of  aspersions  on  the  memory  of 
their  father  in  Jeflferson's  Anas  being  read  in  the  debate  on  Foot's  Resolution), 
contains  the  depositions  of  James  A.  Bayard  relating  to  the  election  in  the 
cases  of  Burr  v.  Cheetham  in  1806,  and  Gillespie  v.  Smith;  depositions  of 
Samuel  Smith  in  the  same  case;  and  letters  from  two  surviving  Congressmen 
who  took  part  in  the  election. 

"  H.  Adams,  Gallatin,  248,  254-63.  These  stories  did  not,  in  general,  reach 
the  newspapers,  but  they  were  circulated  on  hand-bills  {Independent  Chronicle, 
March  2, 1801)  throughout  the  country.  Cf.  Nathaniel  Ames's  diary,  in  A.  B. 
Hart,  Contemporaries,  iii,  339. 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  207 

such  a  project  was  ever  entertained  by  them.^^  Otis's 
contemporary  letters  to  his  wife,  his  confidante  in  poHti- 
cal  matters,  mention  no  such  scheme,  and  indicate  that 
he  expected  the  election  to  terminate  in  the  regular  way. 
The  following  extracts  include  all  that  he  wrote  her  re- 
garding the  election. 
J  February  4,  1801: 

We  are  preparing  for  the  11th  of  february.  I  can  form  no 
conjecture  as  to  the  result  that  is  worthy  of  being  communi- 
cated. It  is  probable  we  shall  have  no  choice  the  first  time  of 
balloting  and  if  the  Federalists  are  all  firm,  we  shall  carry  our 
point. 

Congress  Hall,  Monday  Feby  9,  1801 

.  .  .  We  are  at  this  instant  debating  the  rules  of  proceed- 
ing at  the  approaching  election.  They  are  enclosed  for  Harri- 
son's perusal,  and  /  presume  will  be  adopted  in  their  present 
form.  In  this  event  you  see  we  are  to  be  shut  up  for  God  knows 
how  long,  though  it  cannot  be  longer  than  the  third  of  march. 
Our  Committee  Room  must  be  garnished  with  beefsteaks,  and 
a  few  Turkey  Carpets  to  lie  upon  would  not  be  amiss. 

I  do  not  believe  however  the  obstinacy  of  parties  will  endure 
beyond  the  second  day,  but  I  cannot  say  who  will  give  way. 
We  shall  however  have  the  use  of  pen  ink  and  paper  which  is 
more  than  all  prisoners  enjoy  &  which  I  shall  improve. 

On  February  11,  the  official  count  of  electoral  votes 
was  made,  and  the  tie  between  Jefferson  and  Burr  offi- 
cially announced.  Immediately  afterwards,  balloting  com- 
menced in  the  House,  and  that  afternoon  Otis  wrote: 

We  are  in  Conclave  and  in  a  Snow  Storm.  The  votes  have 
been  counted  in  Senate  &  no  choice.  We  have  balloted  in  the 
house  seven  times.   Thus  it  stands  — 

12  See  their  depositions,  in  Documents  Relating  to  the  Election.  A  contempo- 
rary letter  of  James  A.  Bayard  was  published  in  1822  (printed  in  W.  E.  Dodd, 
Nath.  Macon,  164),  stating  that  the  New  England  members  expressed  a  de- 
termination during  the  election  to  risk  civil  war  rather  than  permit  Jefferson 
to  be  chosen.  R.  G.  Harper  then  declared  (Washington  Gazette,  January  16, 
1823,  and  other  leading  newspapers)  that  he  bad  never  heard  of  such  a  plan.    , 


208  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS  . 

For  Jefferson  8  \ 

For  Burr         6  >  States 

Divided  2 ) 

We  have  agreed  not  to  adjourn,  but  we  have  suspended  ballot- 
ing for  one  hour  to  eat  a  mouthful.  Perhaps  we  shall  continue 
here  a  week.  No  conjecture  can  be  formed  how  it  will  termi- 
nate, but  if  we  are  true  to  ourselves  we  shall  prevail.  Poor  Nich- 
olson is  in  the  Committee  Room  abed  with  a  fever.  It  is  a  chance 
that  this  kills  him.  I  would  not  thus  expose  myself  for  any 
President  on  Earth,  but  being  in  good  health  &  spirits,  ...  I 
have  no  objection  to  staying  here  all  night. 

I  am  one  of  the  Tellers  and  so  constantly  employed  that  I 
cannot  write  to  you  at  large. 

February  15: 

The  last  week  has  fled  rapidly,  in  spite  of  the  disagreeable  and 
still  unfinished  business  in  which  we  have  been  engaged,  and 
my  heart  beats  higher  and  my  impatience  increases  as  the  day 
of  my  departure  approaches.  If  the  election  should  be  made, 
of  which  I  believe  there  is  little  doubt,  in  a  day  or  two,  I  shall 
probably  be  off  by  the  1st  of  march  at  the  farthest.  I  shall  wait 
only  for  two  bills  to  be  passed,  the  one  making  the  annual  ap- 
propriation for  the  support  of  Government  and  the  other  rela- 
tive to  the  navy  and  leave  them  to  wind  off  the  end  of  the  skain. 
Yes  my  beloved  angel,  with  you  I  shall  retire  from  this  scene 
of  anxiety  and  bustle,  to  enjoy  the  rational  and  I  hope  per- 
manent comforts  which  we  have  the  means  of  commanding,  & 
remain  a  silent  spectator  of  the  follies  and  confusion,  of  the 
strife  and  licentiousness  incident  to  all  popular  governments, 
and  to  ours  in  a  most  eminent  degree. 

These  letters  certainly  do  not  suggest  that  Otis  was 
conspiring  to  prolong  the  choice  over  March  3,  and 
place  a  Federalist  usurper  in  the  presidential  chair. 

On  the  following  day,  February  16,  Bayard  decided 
that  no  more  votes  could  possibly  be  secured  for  Burr. 
He  and  a  few  others,  who  saw  no  use  in  continuing  the 
struggle  f urthei",  decided  to  obtain  what  they  could  from 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  209 

Jefiferson  before  bowing  to  the  inevitable.  Samuel  Smith 
of  Baltimore  was  told  that  Jefferson  could  be  elected  if 
he  gave  satisfactory  assurances  in  regard  to  the  public 
debt  and  the  navy,  the  abolition  of  which  he  was  supposed 
to  desire,  and  the  non-removal  of  government  officials. 
Smith  told  Bayard  that  Jefferson  had  already  authorized 
him  to  make  the  statement  that  he  "considered  the  pros- 
perity of  our  commerce  as  essential  to  the  interests  of  the 
nation,"  and  that  the  navy  should  be  increased  "in  pro- 
gress with  the  increase  of  the  nation."  In  regard  to  the 
civil  service  Smith  had  a  special  interview  with  Jeffer- 
son, and  brought  back  word  that  he  "did  not  think  that 
such  officers  as  the  collectors  of  the  port  at  Philadelphia 
and  Wilmington  [who  had  been  mentioned  as  examples] 
ought  to  be  discussed  on  political  grounds  only,  except  in 
cases  where  they  had  made  improper  use  of  their  offices,  to 
force  the  officers  under  them  to  vote  contrary  to  their 
judgment."  These  assurances  —  the  last  two  of  which 
Jefferson  did  not  adhere  to  —  having  been  given, ^^  Bay- 
ard announced  them  to  the  Federal  caucus  on  the  morn- 
ing of  February  17,  after  the  thirty-fifth  ballot  had  also 
resulted  in  a  tie.  Jefferson's  assurance  satisfied  enough 
Federalists  to  break  the  deadlock.  On  the  next  ballot 
Bayard,  to  whom  the  credit  for  this  happy  issue  is  chiefly 
due,  handed  in  a  blank.  Morris  of  Vermont  and  the  Mary- 
land Federalists  followed  the  same  plan,  thus  allowing 
their  Republican  colleagues  to  cast  the  vote  of  their  states; 
and  Thomas  Jefferson  was  elected  President  of  the  United 
States  by  a  majority  of  two. 

^'  These  facts  were  stated  under  oath  by  Bayard  and  Smith  in  the  Cheet- 
ham  case  {Documents  Relating  to  the  Election,  11-12),  testified  to  as  correct  by 
other  Federalists,  and  evidently  believed  in  by  Gallatin  (H.  Adams,  Gallatin, 
250).  Jefferson  in  his  Anas  {Works,  ix,  209-11)  brands  them  "as  absolutely 
false."  The  weight  of  evidence  is  against  him.  Cf.  J.  Q.  Adams,  Memoirs, 
1.428. 


210  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

The  peaceful  revolution  of  the  new  century  was  com- 
pleted; the  "sun  of  Federalism  had  set."  Within  a  short 
time  Otis  and  his  Federalist  colleagues  had  left  Washing- 
ton, never  to  return  as  part  of  a  triumphant  majority. 

The  Fourth  of  March,  1801,  ends  an  epoch  in  Otis's  life, 
as  in  that  of  his  party;  it  marks  the  suspension  of  his 
career,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  as  a  national  statesman. 
The  successful  lawyer,  orator,  and  man  of  business  had 
quickly  ripened  into  a  legislator.  He  had  turned  out  a 
typical  Federalist,  representing  his  party  at  its  best  and 
at  its  worst:  on  the  one  hand,  its  lofty  nationalism  and 
creative  genius,  on  the  other,  its  narrow  intolerance 
and  distrust  of  the  people.  His  brilliant  oratory  and  tal- 
ent for  leadership  had  aided  the  carrying-out  of  a  policy 
of  spirited  resistance  to  European  aggression  and  insult, 
that  brought  France  to  terms  while  it  kept  intact  Wash- 
ington's standard  of  Isolation.  He  had  done  his  best  to 
prevent  the  fatal  rupture  in  his  party.  On  the  other  side, 
Otis  must  take  a  full  share  of  responsibility  for  the  hys- 
teria and  intolerance  of  1798,  and  for  that  final  act  of 
the  Federalist  regime,  the  attempt  to  make  Aaron  Burr 
President  of  the  United  States.  On  the  whole,  we  are 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  well  for  the  country 
that  the  rule  of  Otis  and  his  colleagues  ended  in  1801. 
Their  foreign  policy  was  a  conspicuous  success,  and  a  re- 
freshing contrast  to  the  half-measures  and  experiments 
of  the  Jeffersonian  epoch.  But  their  follies  and  errors  in 
this  period  were  many,  and  they  were  not  accidents,  but 
inevitable  results  of  the  party's  fundamental  defect,  a 
defect  that  could  not  be  shaken  off  while  Hamilton,  Cabot, 
Ames,  and  Pickering  were  influential  in  its  councils:  they 
arose  from  the  failure  of  the  Federalists  to  respect  the 
ideals,  the  jealousies,  and  the  prejudices  of  a  free  people. 
This  fundamental  weakness  must  not  blind  us,  however, 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  211 

to  the  fact  that  the  Federal  party  laid  down  principles  of 
government  by  which  the  Union  has  been  preserved,  by 
which  these  United  States  must  be  governed  while  they 
wish  to  remain  one  nation.  To  quote  a  contemporary 
prophecy  of  Robert  Goodloe  Harper: 

Names  may  change;  the  denominations  of  parties  may  be 
altered  or  forgotten;  but  the  principles  on  which  the  federalists 
have  acted  must  be  adopted,  their  plans  must  be  substantially 
pursued,  or  the  government  must  fall  in  pieces;  for  those  narrow 
maxims  which  apply  properly  to  small  communities,  and  on 
which  speculative  men  sometimes  found  their  theories,  will 
ever  prove  in  practice  wholly  inadequate  to  the  government 
of  a  great  nation.  ^^ 

LETTERS 

SAMUEL   SEWALL  ^^   TO   OTIS 

Marblehead,  29th  Deer.  1800 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  pleased  that  Mr.  Hooper  succeeds  at  length  in  his  pe- 
tition :  I  observe  by  the  paper  that  the  House  have  accepted  the 
report  of  the  Com[mitt]ee. 

The  issue  of  the  election  of  President  is  extremely  unfortu- 
nate: the  only  consolation  is  that  the  federal  party  acted  with  so 
much  unanimity  notwithstanding  the  mistaken  efforts  of  Mr. 
A's  most  solicitous  friends.  He  must  be  satisfied  that  he  was 
not  forsaken  or  sacrificed  by  the  party,  and  that,  if  he  has  not 
succeeded,  it  is  only  to  be  attributed  to  the  too  frequent  vibra- 
tion of  popular  elections.  So.  Carolina  did  precisely  as  last  May 
and  until  the  meeting  of  the  Electors,  I  expected  they  would 
do.   But  at  our  meeting  ^^  we  had  so  direct  intelligence  of  the 

"  Harper's  Select  Works,  326. 

1^  Samuel  Sewall  (1757-1814);  a  member  of  the  Sixth  Congress  from  the 
Salem  district,  who  resigned  before  the  second  session  on  account  of  a  promo- 
tion to  the  Supreme  Bench  in  Massachusetts. 

^^  He  probably  refers  to  the  congressional  caucus  that  nominated  Adams 
and  Pinckney. 


212  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

state  of  their  new  legislature  and  such  strong  assurances  of  the 
intentions  of  the  federal  party  there,  as  to  excite  with  me 
the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  an  issue  to  the  election  entirely 
to  the  wishes  of  the  federal  party.  I  lament  the  change;  but 
according  to  present  appearances  the  federal  party  here  are  to 
gain  strength  from  it.  All  the  light  troops  of  the  opposition  are 
disappointed  and  offended;  it  was  not  their  intention  to  loose 
INIr  Adams  from  the  chair.  We  have  heard  of  the  votes  from  all 
the  states  excepting  Kentucky  &  Tennessee:  and  there  seems  to 
be  no  doubt  but  these  will  be  uniform  with  the  other  antifed. 
states:  The  two  highest  candid,  will  be  Jeff.  &  Burr,  &  they  will 
have  an  equal  number  of  votes.  What  will  be  the  conduct  of 
the  federal  party  in  the  house?  A  sentiment  on  this  subject  has 
become  very  general  here,  which  I  see  had  been  anticipated 
in  the  Washington  Federalist,  —  it  is,  that  Burr  must  be  voted 
for  by  the  federalists  as  being  the  least  of  two  evils.  I  think 
Burr's  objectionable  qualities  will  be  more  dangerous  in  the 
station  of  V.  P.  than  as  chief.  He  will  govern  without  the  re- 
sponsibility which  might  check  his  proceedings:  and  he  will 
intrigue  as  from  a  secret  but  a  very  advantageous  position.  On 
the  other  hand  as  chief,  if  he  has  less  principle  and  politl.  in- 
tegrity than  the  other,  as  some  suppose,  yet  he  has  less  enthu- 
siasm &  philosophy,  and  is  wholly  free,  I  am  told,  from  the 
nonsense  of  democratic  plans,  in  which  the  friends  of  Mr.  JefiP. 
if  not  himself,  are  completely  involved.  Another  purpose  may 
be  effected  by  a  steady  and  decided  vote  of  the  federal  party 
for  Mr.  Burr :  it  is  possible  that  an  election  at  this  time  and  with 
the  materials  you  will  be  confined  to,  may  be  wholly  prevented. 
This  is  most  desirable :  and  this  will  be  the  event  unless  some  one 
of  the  Jacob,  states  concurs  with  the  feds.  If  the  Feds,  make 
Mr  B.  presid.,  they  may  retain  a  necessary  influence  upon  the 
Admin,  and  the  election  itself  will  divide  their  adversaries. 
Perhaps  I  am  reckoning,  with  great  solicitude  upon  suppositions 
that  are  not  to  be  realized :  and  at  any  rate  I  shall  suggest  no- 
thing that  can  be  new  to  you;  but  you  must  indulge  a  little  to 
the  desire  of  talking  upon  this  interesting  subject.  .  .  . 
With  sincere  respect  &  esteem     Your  most  obedt.  serv. 

Samuel  Sewall. 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  218 

THEOPHILUS  PARSONS  TO  OTIS 

Boston  Jany.  2Sd,  1801 
Dear  Sir  — 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  polite  attention  to  me  on 
the  subject  of  the  Judicial  department.  I  do  not  think  the 
duties  would  be  severe  or  troublesome,  but  from  the  salary 
must  be  deducted  about  $500  expended  in  the  charge  of  them; 
the  remainder  will  not  support  my  large  and  growing  family. 
My  professional  income  is  now  greater,  and  altho'  the  salary 
is  during  life,  yet  I  should  feel  myself  compelled  to  resign 
whenever  I  should  be  unable  thro'  age  or  infirmity  to  fill  the 
office  ■s\"ith  some  reputation  —  and  until  that  period  I  may  hope 
to  continue  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  I  have  another  consid- 
eration which  perhaps  has  induced  me  to  examine  the  question 
wath  less  attention.  If  J.  Lowell  is  not  appointed,  he  will  cer- 
tainly believe  himself  neglected  &  will  resign  which  would  be 
disagreeable  to  us  all.  And  may  I  not  ask  how  long  the  present 
sj'stem  is  to  last,  if  it  be  established  this  session? 

The  two  political  questions  which  agitate  the  public  mind 
here  are  the  election  of  a  President  &  the  ratification  of  the 
French  Treaty.  The  Federalists  seem  not  to  be  united  in 
opinion  upon  these  subjects.  As  to  the  first,  the  greater  num- 
ber prefer  Burr.  He  has  no  political  theories  repugnant  to  the 
form  of  the  constitution  or  the  former  administration  —  His  am- 
bition &  interest  will  direct  his  conduct  —  and  his  own  state  is 
commercial  &  largely  interested  in  the  funded  debt.  If  he  will 
honorably  support  the  government  for  which  he  has  undoubted 
talents,  he  will  have  the  support  of  the  federalists  and  of 
some  of  the  Jacobins  whom  he  may  detach  —  and  his  election 
will  disorganize  and  embarrass  the  party  who  have  given  him 
their  votes.  If  notwithstanding  he  should  be  hostile  to  the  gov- 
ernment, he  will  not  only  be  opposed  by  all  the  federalists  &  by 
some  of  the  southern  Jacobins  who  disappointed  by  the  event 
will  not  willingly  contribute  to  increase  or  confirm  his  interest 
or  ambition  —  but  his  personal  embarrassments  will  also  lessen 
his  weight,  by  creating  jealousy  of  his  sinister  intentions.  Thus 
they  argue.  Others  are  fearful  of  his  activity  of  his  talents  &  his 
personal  courage.   They  consider  Jefferson  as  a  man  cautious 


214  HiMlRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

thro'  timidity  —  that  he  will  fear  to  go  the  lengths  of  his  party, 
&  will  thereby  disgust  many  of  them:  and  proceeding  slowly 
the  chapter  of  accidents  may  furnish  opportunities  of  self  de- 
fence which  the  vigour  of  Burr  will  not  admit  of.  I  trust  the 
federalists  in  Congress  will  form  an  impenetrable  phalanx  & 
standing  on  higher  ground  than  we  occupy,  will  decide  with 
wisdom  &  vigour. 

On  the  second  question  it  is  generally  agreed  that  parts  of  the 
Treaty  are  degrading  to  us  as  a  nation  and  injurious  to  our  citi- 
zens. But  shall  it  be  ratified.''  Some  incline  that  way.  However 
bad  it  is  a  worse  one  may  be  made  by  the  approaching  admin- 
istration; and  no  better  can  be  obtained  by  any  administration. 
It  puts  the  old  treaties  out  of  question,  and  the  repeal  of  the 
act  annulling  them  will  not  revive  them  so  as  to  give  them 
priority  —  and  its  defects  are  so  manifest  that  a  consideration 
of  them  will  have  a  tendency  to  impede  the  propagation  of 
French  principles.  Others  contend  —  that  our  real  importance 
in  the  scale  of  commerce  will  command  at  some  future  time  a 
better  treaty  —  that  no  occasion  can  warrant  a  sacrifice  of  na- 
tional honour  —  once  lost  it  cannot  easily  be  recovered —  that 
no  embarrassments  which  this  treaty  will  suspend  will  protect 
us  against  as  great  mischiefs  from  future  negotiation,  (which 
is  purposely  left  open),  by  a  new  administration  —  that  the 
great  objects  of  our  dread  are  french  influence  &  british  hostil- 
ity —  and  whether  the  treaty  is  ratified  or  not,  a  new  adminis- 
tration can  easily  expose  us  to  them.  All  however  agree  that 
the  ratification  if  it  take  place  should  be  modified  by  a  clause 
similar  to  the  one  introduced  into  the  British  Treaty,  that  it 
should  not  affect  any  prior  treaties.  Thus  you  see  that  however 
these  questions  are  determined,  the  determination  will  have  ad- 
vocates among  good  men.  I  am  glad  that  I  am  not  called  upon 
to  give  my  voice  on  either  of  these  questions,  the  reasons  on 
both  sides  are  so  nearly  equal,  &  the  consequences  of  either 
decision  are  to  be  anticipated  in  some  degree  by  conjecture  only. 
Were  I  to  decide  today  probably  I  should  vote  for  Burr  &  for  a 
modified  ratification  of  the  Treaty  —  to-morrow  I  might  vote 
differently.  However  doubtful  on  these  questions,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  assuring  you  that  I  am  very  sincerely 

your  most  obedt.  &  humble  Servant 
Theop  Parsons. 


JEFFERSON  OR  BURR?  215 


OTIS   TO   MRS.    OTIS 

Washington  4  Feby  1801 

"Midst  chains  and  bolts  the  active  soul  is  free 
And  flies  unfettered  Cavendish  to  thee." 

.loW  II  Ajord  Russell's  soul  could  flie  out  of  jail  to  the  embraces 
of  his  friends,  it  is  not  extraordinary  that  mine  should  escape 
from  the  hubbub  of  a  debate  about  the  bill  for  governing  this 
city  to  my  dearest  friend,  the  companion  of  my  life  and  the 
partner  of  all  my  joys.  It  is  in  this  situation  now  I  snatch  a 
moment  to  reassure  you  of  my  own  welfare,  and  what  is  always 
more  material,  to  enquire  after  yours.  Thus  it  is  I  speak  a 
little  and  write  a  little  and  think  a  little  and  laugh  a  little  and 
wish  a  great  deal  that  .  .  .  my  time  of  penance  was  over  and 
gone.  After  closing  my  last,  I  received  Dawes  letter,  by  which 
you  perceive  that  my  hopes  of  office  ^''  are  at  end  and  will 
imderstand  by  what  coalition  of  parties  from  the  east  and  the 
west  I  have  been  defeated.  The  Governor  from  a  desire  to  pre- 
serve a  local  popularity  has  abandoned  the  dictates  of  his  own 
judgment  and  discarded  the  opinion  of  the  whole  court;  but 
this  is  naturally  to  be  expected  from  poor  human  nature.  I  was 
prepared  for  it,  and  care  not  a  pinch  of  snuff  for  the  result. 
It  only  confirms  my  opinion,  that  I  must  depend  on  my  own 
exertions,  without  favor  or  afifection  places  or  promotion  for 
my  own  prosperity  &  the  advancement  of  my  family,  and  I 
feel  thank  God  that  while  my  health  continues  I  can  provide 
for  the  comfort  &  happiness  too  of  the  dear  objects  which  de- 
pend on  me  and  constitute  all  that  is  dear  to  me. 

I  shall  now  be  constantly  with  you,  and  be  dispensed  from 
seperations  of  even  three  and  four  weeks  at  a  time  which  be- 
come sufficiently  tedious. 

You  have  done  well  to  send  for  Rush,  who  I  hope  however 
will  not  bleed  you,  as  I  am  sure  that  gentle  medicine  will 
answer  every  purpose.  ^^  .  .  . 

"  The  oflBce  of  Solicitor-General  of  Massachusetts. 

*'  Mrs.  Otis  was  then  at  Philadelphia,  at  the  Harrisons'.  If  she  escaped 
being  bled  by  Dr.  Rush,  she  was  lucky  —  bleeding  was  his  favorite  remedy  for 
every  complaint  from  a  cold  in  the  head  to  yellow  fever. 


216  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

What  can  I  desire  you  to  tell  our  «ends  in  reply  to  their 
reiterated  proofs  of  affection  tor  both  of  us.  They  kno"^  all  1 
ean  s^-  and  feel  on  this  subjeet;  therefore  say  simply  to  them 
that  I  love  -em  dearly.  ^^^^  ^gectionate  H.  G.  Otis. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

HARRY   OTIS,   FRIEND   AND   HOST 

Having  reached  the  close  of  what  Otis  afterwards 
called  "  the  first  act  of  my  political  drama,"  let  us  aban- 
don for  a  time  the  political  viewpoint,  and  glance  at  his 
personality  and  non-political  activities,  during  the  middle 
period  of  his  life.  Harry  Otis  the  husband,  father,  friend, 
and  host;  Mr.  Otis  the  brilliant  orator  and  prominent  cit- 
izen of  Boston,  is  quite  as  interesting  a  person  as  the 
Honorable  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  politician  and  statesman. 
Among  the  citizens  of  all  classes  in  Federalist  Boston  no 
one  was  so  beloved  or  respected  as  he  —  and  in  that  later 
Whig  Boston,  even  Daniel  Webster  did  not  wholly  sup- 
plant him  in  the  affections  of  the  people.  This  widespread 
admiration  was  due  primarily,  not  to  any  supreme  quali- 
ties as  a  statesman,  or  an  orator,  but  to  his  well-rounded, 
vigorous  personality.  Josiah  Quincy  writes :  "  Men  of  the 
stamp  of  Sullivan  and  his  friend  Otis  were  more  conspicu- 
ous for  what  they  were,  than  for  what  they  did.  They 
were  predominant  men,  and  gave  the  community  its 
quality,  shaping,  as  if  by  divine  right,  its  social  and  politi- 
cal issues."^  But  Quincy,  himself,  who  knew  Otis  inti- 
mately notwithstanding  the  diifference  in  their  ages,  de- 
spaired of  transmitting  his  personality  by  pen  and  ink. 
"I  wish  it  were  in  my  power,"  he  wrote  in  his  diary,  "to 
preserve  for  posterity  some  traces  of  the  wit,  brilliancy, 
eloquence,  and  urbanity  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis;  for  when 
he  is  gone  there  is  no  man  who  can  make  good  his  place  in 

^  Josiah  Quincy  (1802-1882,  son  of  Otis's  contemporary  of  the  same  name). 
Figures  of  the  Past,  323. 


218  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

society,"  a  statement  which  is  hardly  encouraging  for 
one  who  knows  Otis  only  through  his  writings  and  tradi- 
tion. 

If  the  reader  expects  to  find  Otis  a  typical  member  of  a 
Puritanic  society,  he  will  look  in  vain.  Perhaps  he  has 
suspected  as  much  already,  from  reading  Otis's  letters 
from  the  "Republican  Court."  In  Otis  were  compre- 
hended the  best  and  most  charming  characteristics  of  the 
society  in  which  he  was  born  and  brought  up,  the  Boston 
aristocracy;  but  in  that  society  there  were  few  Puritanic 
traits.  The  same  claim  cannot  be  made  for  the  New  Eng- 
land country  gentry  or  the  middle  class  at  this  period; 
among  them  the  seventeenth-century  Puritanic  tradition 
was  still  fresh  and  vigorous.  The  country  gentry  pro- 
duced the  tj'pical  New  England  statesmen  of  the  time, 
men  like  Timothy  Pickering  and  John  Quincy  Adams, 
both  the  very  quintessence  of  Puritanism;  Pickering  hav- 
ing all  the  harsh,  unlovely  characteristics  of  that  creed  and 
race,  and  Adams  all  the  finer  and  nobler  traits.  And  both 
men,  it  is  significant  to  note,  disliked  Otis  with  all  the 
intensity  of  temperamental  opposites.  But  the  leaders  of 
Boston  society  and  Boston  Federalism  inherited  the  char- 
acteristics of  that  genial,  pleasure-loving  group  to  which 
Otis's  grandparents  belonged,  the  court  of  the  colonial 
governors.  In  character  they  resembled  more  the  famil- 
iar type  of  the  Virginia  or  Carolina  gentleman  than  their 
own  country  neighbors.  When  William  Wirt,  the  distin- 
guished Virginia  lawyer,  visited  Boston  in  18^29,  he  was 
astonished  to  find  that  his  preconceived  notions  of  Yan- 
kee society  must  be  cast  aside.  "Otis  has  been  twice 
with  me,  pressing  me  to  dine  with  him,"  he  wrote;  "I 
have  never  received  such  a  profusion  of  attentions  any- 
where in  my  life.  I  think  the  people  of  Boston  amongst 
the  most  agreeable  in  the  United  States  .  .  .  they  are  as 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST  219 

warm-hearted,  as  kind,  as  frank,  as  truly  hospitable  as 
the  Virginians  themselves.  In  truth,  they  are  Virginian 
in  all  the  essentials  of  character.  Would  to  heaven  the 
people  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  knew  each  other 
better!  "2  Harrison  Gray  Otis  was  a  typical  member  of 
the  class  that  gave  Wirt  these  impressions. 

At  the  prime  of  life  "Harry"  Otis,  as  his  friends  always 
called  him,  was  slightly  above  the  average  height;  well 
proportioned,  with  black  hair,  sparkling  dark  blue  eyes, 
a  thin,  Roman  nose,  and  a  ruddy  complexion.  His  per- 
sonal appearance,  combined  with  his  gracious  charm  of 
manner,  gave  him  a  rare  personal  distinction,  without 
the  slightest  trace  of  stiffness  or  pomposity.  Contem- 
poraries always  described  his  appearance  as  "elegant"  — 
a  word  now  fallen  into  bad  company  —  by  which  they 
meant  to  say  that  he  dressed  with  care  and  fastidiousness, 
at  a  period  when  these  qualities  were  by  no  means  univer- 
sal among  men  of  his  class.  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  for 
instance,  who  was  the  conspicuous  opposite  to  Otis  in 
this  respect,  was  even  accused  of  returning  from  a  week's 
circuit  wearing  one  on  top  of  the  other  the  seven  shirts 
with  which  his  wife  had  provided  him  at  the  start.  Of 
Otis  it  is  related  that  he  once  met  on  the  street  a  married 
couple  of  his  acquaintance,  as  the  lady  was  arranging 
the  shirt  ruffles  of  her  untidy  spouse.  "There  —  look  at 
Mr.  Otis's  bosom ! "  said  she,  pointing  to  his  immaculate 
ruffles.  "Madam,"  said  Otis,  with  one  of  his  best  bows, 
"If  your  husband  could  look  within  my  bosom,  he  would 
die  of  jealousy." 

The  secret  of  Otis's  popularity  lay  in  his  tact,  affabil- 
ity, consideration  for  others,  and  a  natural  courtesy  that 
came  from  the  heart.  To  enumerate  his  circle  of  loyal 
friends  would  take  pages.  In  Boston  the  most  intimate, 

2  J.  F.  Kennedy,  Life  of  Wirt,  ii,  268-73. 


220  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

perhaps,  were  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  William  Sullivan, 
Isaac  P.  Davis,  David  Sears,  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  Theo- 
dore Lyman,  Rufus  G.  Amory,  Jonathan  and  Jere- 
miah Mason;  in  Philadelphia,  George  Harrison,  Judge 
Hopkinson,  and  Charles  Willing  Hare;  in  New  York, 
Rufus  King;  in  Baltimore,  Christopher  Hughes  and 
Robert  Goodloe  Harper;  and  in  Charleston,  John  Rut- 
ledge  and  Thomas  Pinckney.  The  fact  that  he  formed  as 
warm  friendships  among  men  of  the  Southern  and  Middle 
States  as  among  his  fellow  Bostonians  was  typical  of 
Otis.  Consequently  it  was  impossible  for  him  ever  to  em- 
brace the  extreme  brand  of  New  England  Federalism 
affected  by  the  Essex  Junto  and  the  "River  Gods"  of 
Connecticut.  No  matter  how  great  the  provocation,  he 
could  never  bring  himself  to  a  belief  that  Disunion  was 
preferable  to  Union. 

Enemies  Otis  had,  as  any  man  with  a  particle  of  back- 
bone must  have  had  if  he  took  part  in  the  politics  of  that 
day;  but  he  looked  on  mankind  in  general  without  a  trace 
of  that  sour  malignity  which  appears  in  the  writings  of 
his  Puritanic  colleagues.  His  correspondence  is  remark- 
ably free,  considering  the  political  bitterness  of  his  day, 
from  illiberal  reflections  on  men  and  their  motives ;  there 
is  not,  to  my  knowledge,  a  single  harsh  comment  on  the 
members  of  the  Essex  Junto,  whose  party  selfishness  and 
personal  dislike  of  him  he  must  have  perceived.  Since, 
like  other  party  men,  his  particular  abomination  was 
political  apostasy,  he  broke  openly  with  Samuel  Dexter 
after  his  desertion  of  the  Federal  party  in  1813.  Joseph 
Story  he  held  suspect  for  many  years  on  account  of  his 
early  attachment  to  the  Democratic  party.  Josiah 
Quincy  once  expressed  to  him  the  sentiment  that  Presi- 
dent Jackson  could  say  unto  this  learned  judge,  after 
the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  as  Pharaoh  did  unto 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST  221 

Joseph,  "Thou  shalt  be  ruler  over  my  house."  "Joseph, 
indeed!  Why,  yes,  an  excellent  comparison,"  snorted 
Otis.  "Pray,  was  anything  said  about  his  coat  of  many 
colors?" 

It  was  impossible  for  Otis,  with  his  sunny,  genial  na- 
ture, to  carry  on  one  of  those  lifelong  political  feuds  which 
were  meat  and  drink  to  some  of  his  contemporaries.  The 
nearest  approach  to  one  was  his  relationship  with  John 
Quincy  Adams.  No  two  men  could  have  been  more  tem- 
peramentally unlike  than  Otis  and  Adams;  the  former 
frank,  genial,  and  pleasure-loving,  the  latter  cold,  tact- 
less, rigidly  conscientious,  and  above  all,  an  Adams. 
"What  a  queer  family!"  Otis  wrote  of  the  Adamses  in 
his  old  age,  a  propos  of  Charles  Francis  Adams's  entry 
into  politics.  "  I  think  them  all  (beginning  with  the  grand- 
sire)  varieties  in  a  peculiar  species  of  our  race  exhibiting 
a  combination  of  talent,  &  good  moral  character,  with 
passions  and  prejudices  calculated  to  defeat  their  own 
objects  &  embarrass  their  friends,  that  would  puzzle  La 
Bruyere  to  describe  &  which  has  no  Prototype  in  Shake- 
speare or  Moliere." 

John  Quincy  Adams  seems  to  have  been  under  the 
delusion  that  Otis  looked  upon  him  as  a  rival,  and  a  block 
to  his  political  advancement;  ^  but  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est trace  in  Otis's  writings  of  any  such  feeling.  More- 
over, as  Adams's  diary  and  writings  on  several  occasions 
show  a  belief  that  Otis  was  intriguing  against  him,  the 
jealousy  and  rivalry  would  seem  to  have  been  all  on  his 
side;  yet  he  was  capable,  as  we  shall  see,  of  doing  full 

'  "  I  know  that  from  a  very  early  date  he  [Otis]  has  personally  been  aflSicted 
with  the  feelings  of  a  rival  towards  me,  a  vague  and  general  feeling  of  rivalry, 
for  I  never  stood  in  the  way  of  his  wishes  for  any  particular  object.  It  was  so 
with  poor  Bayard  in  a  much  greater  degree,  and  with  less  reason."  J.  Q.  A.  to 
John  Adams,  Oct.  29, 1816.  Adams  MSS.  In  his  Reply  of  1829  Adams  writes: 
"  How  long  it  has  been  since  he  has  seen  fit  to  look  at  me  as  an  adder  in  his  path 
is  best  known  to  himself." 


222  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

justice  to  Otis's  character  and  personality.  When  Adams 
was  read  out  of  the  Federal  party  for  voting  for  Jeffer- 
son's Embargo,  the  first  break  between  the  two  occurred. 
Their  fathers  were  old  and  intimate  friends,  and  Otis  had 
loyally  supported  the  elder  Adams  in  1800;  but  during 
the  stormy  years  that  followed,  the  clans  of  Otis  and 
Adams  ceased  personal  intercourse.  The  following  letter 
from  Abigail  Adams  to  her  son,  then  minister  to  Great 
Britain,  describes  the  characteristic  manner  in  which 
Otis  brought  about  a  reconciliation,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  "era  of  good  feelings  ": 

Quincy,  Aug.  27,  1816 
My  dear  Son  .  .  . 

In  this  still  calm,  and  political  pause,  I  must  entertain  you 
with  domestic  occurrences,  one  of  which  is  a  Family  visit, 
which  we  received  a  fortnight  since  from  Mr  W  Foster,  your 
old  neighbor,*  (who  lost  his  Lady  about  two  months  since,) 
accompanied  by  Mrs  A  Otis  ^  and  daughter,  Mr  H  G  Otis 
Lady  and  daughter  and  son;  who  all  came  in  a  Body  to  take 
tea  with  us.  This  visit  has  been  long  in  contemplation :  Mrs  A 
Otis  was  commissioned  to  inquire,  if  your  Father  would  like 
to  receive  the  visit?  to  which  a  candid  reply  was  given  that  he 
should  be  pleased  to  receive  it.  Whether  the  Hartford  mill- 
stone hung  so  heavy  that  it  could  not  be  thrown  off,  or  for  what 
other  reason  I  cannot  say,  the  visit  was  never  accomplished  un- 
till  a  fortnight  since,  when  we  past  a  very  pleasant  and  social 
afternoon  together.  Upon  taking  leave  Mr  Otis  in  his  very 
civil  and  polite  manner,  asked  it  as  a  favour  that  I  would  dine 
with  him  the  next  week?  I  replied,  that  I  had  long  declined  all 
invitations  to  dinner,  as  well  as  all  public  company,  upon  which 
he  said  it  should  be  only  a  Family  party.  I  then  referred  him 
to  your  Father  who  promptly  accepted  his  invitation.  Accord- 
ingly when  the  day  came,  we  went,  and  were  most  kindly  and 
cordially  received  by  all  the  assembled  families.  Mr  Mason 
[and]  Mr  Tudor  were  considered  former  appendages  to  us,  and 

«  H.  G.  O.'s  father-in-law. 

6  Mrs.  Samuel  Allyne  Otis,  H.  G.  O.'s  stepmother. 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST  223 

were  a  part  of  the  company.  All  appeared  pleased  and  mutually 
gratified. 

I  know  not  when  I  have  past  a  pleasanter  day,  and  I  could 
not  but  regret  the  hour  of  seperation.  All  this  past  off  very  well. 
I  never  expected  to  hear  more  of  it.  But  you  cannot  imagine 
what  a  sensation  it  has  created  in  the  Capital.  A  Gentleman 
from  Town  yesterday  inf ormd  me,  that  it  was  a  subject  of  specu- 
lation in  the  public  offices.  Whether  the  Stocks  have  risen  or 
fallen  in  consequences,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say,  but  the  wise  ones 
cannot  comprehend  the  phenomenon.  Some  whisper  it  was  to 
obtain  a  recommendation  for  a  foreign  Mission,  —  now  I  do 
not  believe  in  any  such  motive  I  ascribe  it  to  the  benevolent 
desire  of  extinguishing  all  party  spirit,  and  to  a  desire  of  renew- 
ing former  friendship,  and  Family  intimacy.  As  such  I  received 
it,  and  in  the  same  spirit  returnd  it.® 

Peace  was  maintained  between  the  two  families  until 
1828,  when  the  feud  broke  out  afresh,  because  John 
Quincy  Adams  accused  the  old  Federalist  leaders  of  hav- 
ing plotted  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  An  acrimon- 
ious controversy  between  Otis  and  Adams  followed.^  Yet 
only  three  years  later  Otis  again  came  forward  with  the 
olive  branch,  thereby  eliciting  angry  protests  from  some 
of  his  old  friends  and  associates.  To  one  of  them  he 
wrote,  on  May  20,  1833: 

I  am  told  you  are  curious  and  puzzled  for  an  explanation  of 
my  call  on  J  Q  A  last  year.  It  was  the  result  of  reflection  and 
principle.  In  regard  to  the  Bank  and  other  great  measures,  he 
had  conducted  himself  with  propriety  and  ability.  I  knew 
he  wanted  to  bury  the  hatchet,  because  entre  nous,  he  sent  me 

'  Abigail  Adams  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  Adams  MSS.,  "Family  Letters," 
DC.  John  Adams  wrote  his  son  on  the  same  event,  August  26,  1816  {Ibid.,  viii) : 
"As  you  live:  your  Father  and  Mother  &  Louisa  dined  last  Tuesday  in  Boston 
with  Judge  Otis  in  the  neatest  Company  imaginable;  none  but  Otis's,  Lymans, 
Thomdykes,  Minots,  Boardmans  and  Fosters,  except  Tudor  and  Mason.  I 
never  before  knew  Mrs.  Otis.  She  has  good  Understanding.  I  have  seldom  if 
ever  passed  a  more  sociable  day.  Exert  all  your  Witts  to  draw  Inferences  from 
this  Phenomenon.  Do  you  ascribe  it  to  the  Eclipse  of  1806,  to  the  Comet  or  to 
the  spots  in  the  sun?" 

'  See  chapters  xv  and  xxxi. 


224  HiVRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

word  to  that  effect.  The  state  of  the  nation,  makes  it  desirable 
to  strengthen  the  hands  and  encourage  the  hearts  of  all  who  are 
able  and  disposed  to  render  services  to  the  Country,  on  great 
occasions,  though  reliance  is  not  to  be  placed  upon  their  con- 
sistency, and  as  I  could  have  no  personal  or  selfish  motive,  & 
he  must  know  it,  I  gave  him  a  call  which  he  return'd  &  there 
the  matter  drop'd. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  note  that  no  better  text  can  be  found 
on  which  to  base  a  description  of  Otis's  social  qualities, 
than  a  letter  of  John  Quincy  Adams  to  his  father,  written 
on  receiving  his  account  of  the  reconciliation  of  1816: 

Since  beginning  this  Letter  I  have  received  yours  of  26,  Au- 
gust and  5.  September,  and  am  highly  gratified  by  your  and  my 
Mother's  Account  of  your  social  party  at  Judge  Otis's.  Among 
the  lights  and  shades  of  that  worthy  Senator's  character,  there 
is  none  which  shows  him  in  higher  colours  than  his  hospitality. 
In  the  course  of  nearly  thirty  years  that  I  have  known  him, 
and  throughout  the  range  of  experience  that  I  have  had  in  that 
time,  it  has  not  fallen  to  my  lot  to  meet  a  man  more  skilled  in 
the  useful  art  of  entertaining  his  friends  than  Otis;  and  among 
the  many  admirable  talents  that  he  possesses,  there  is  none 
that  I  should  have  been  more  frequently  and  more  strongly 
prompted  to  Envy;  if  the  natural  turn  of  my  disposition  had 
been  envious.  Of  those  qualities  Otis  has  many  —  His  Person 
while  in  Youth,  his  graceful  Deportment,  his  sportive  wit,  his 
quick  intelligence,  his  eloquent  fluency,  always  made  a  strong 
impression  upon  my  Mind;  while  his  warm  domestic  Affections, 
his  active  Friendship,  and  his  Generosity,  always  commanded 
my  esteem  .  .  .  Mrs.  Otis  is  and  always  has  been  a  charming 
woman;  and  I  am  very  glad  you  have  seen  them  both  in  the 
place  where  of  all  others  they  appear  to  the  greatest  advantage 
—  their  own  house. ^ 

Otis  was  famous  in  his  day  for  that  "sportive  wit" 
which  Adams  mentions  among  his  attractive  character- 
istics.  We  look  in  vain  for  it  in  his  political  correspond- 

8  J.  Q.  Adams,  to  John  Adams,  October  29,  1816,  Adams  MSS.  "Family 
Letters,"  vii. 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST  225 

ence  and  speeches,  for  politics  of  the  Federalist  era  were 
so  intense  and  seemed  so  vital  that  to  season  them  mth 
humor  was  considered  almost  blasphemous.  But  Otis, 
who  in  private  intercourse  was  always  bubbling  over 
with  spontaneous  fun  and  good  nature,  was  the  life  of 
every  assembly  of  men  or  women  where  he  appeared.  At 
public  and  private  dinners  he  was  the  favorite  toastmas- 
ter.  A  contemporary  diary,  describing  a  party  in  1809, 
writes,  "All  went  off  with  eclat,  except  the  toasts,  which 
were  rather  flat.  The  gentlemen  were  not  prepared  to  be 
either  witty  or  sentimental,  and  impromptus  suit  the 
genius  of  the  French  better  than  that  of  the  English  or 
their  American  descendants.  Mr.  Otis  alone  was  happy 
on  this  occasion;  his  wit  is  ever  ready."  ^  Josiah  Quincy 
gives  an  equally  pleasing  impression  of  him  at  a  cattle- 
show  in  Worcester  in  1829 : 

The  speeches  by  Otis  and  Everett  were  in  the  happiest  vein; 
and  a  grand  ball  concluded  the  day.  No,  it  did  not  conclude  it, 
after  all;  for  near  midnight  some  gentlemen  from  Providence, 
who  had  arrived  by  the  newly  opened  Blackstone  Canal,  invited 
a  few  of  us  to  adjourn  to  a  room  they  had  engaged  and  taste 
some  of  "Roger  Williams  Spring,"  which  they  had  brought 
all  the  way  from  the  settlement  he  founded.  Now  this  same 
spring,  as  it  turned  out,  ran  some  remarkably  choice  Madeira, 
and  this  beverage,  served  with  an  excellent  supper,  furnished 
the  material  basis  for  brilliant  displays  of  wit,  flashing  out 
upon  the  background  of  hearty  and  genial  humor.  Mr.  Otis 
fairly  surpassed  himself.  He  was  wonderful  in  repartee,  and 
his  old-fashioned  stories  were  full  of  rollicking  fun.  I  well  re- 
member the  account  he  gave  of  the  first  appearance  of  cham- 
pagne in  Boston.  It  was  produced  at  a  party  given  by  the 
French  consul,  and  was  mistaken  by  his  guests  for  some  espe- 
cially mild  cider  of  foreign  growth.  The  scene  was  beneath  the 
dignity  of  history,  to  be  sure;  but  taken  as  a  sort  of  side-show, 
it  was  very  enjoyable. 

'  J.  Winsor,  Boston,  iv,  18. 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

The  examples  that  Mr.  Quincy  gives  us  of  Harry  Otis's 
humor  consist,  unfortunately,  of  puns  —  a  form  of  wit- 
ticism then  prevailing,  and  now,  happily,  gone  out  of 
fashion.  We  shall  not  repeat  them.  A  more  convincing 
example  of  his  ready  wit  —  although  to  appreciate  it 
requires  some  knowledge  of  Massachusetts  topography 
—  was  told  me  by  Mr.  Frank  H.  Sanborn,  who  heard  it 
from  his  friend  Wendell  Phillips.  It  seems  that  one  of 
the  colleagues  of  Otis  and  the  elder  Phillips  in  the  State 
Senate,  about  the  year  1808,  rejoiced  in  the  curious  name 
of  Salem  Town.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  Democratic 
minority  offered  a  "joker"  resolution,  drawn  up  with 
the  express  purpose  of  trapping  unwary  Federalists  into 
endorsing  Democratic  principles,  Mr.  Town,  alone  of  the 
Federalist  majority,  swallowed  the  bait,  and  voted  "  Yea  '* 
in  the  roll-call.  Otis  came  up  to  him,  after  the  vote  had 
been  taken,  and  remarked  in  a  solemn  tone,  "  Mr.  Town, 
your  parents  were  four  miles  out  of  the  way,  more  or  less, 
in  naming  you."  "Four  miles,  Mr.  Otis!  What  do  you 
mean,  sir?"  —  "Instead  of  Salem  Town,  they  should 
have  christened  you  Marble  Head !  " 

Social  life  in  Boston  in  the  first  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  already  becoming  more  elaborate, 
as  a  natural  result  of  material  prosperity.  We  hear 
of  numerous  private  balls,  and  little  cotillion  parties,  of 
music  furnished  by  a  Turkish  band,  of  peaches  and 
melons  in  November  —  not  bad,  for  a  town  of  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  waltz  was  not  yet  introduced, 
however,  —  Otis  when  seeing  it  for  the  first  time  at 
Washington,  in  1818,  thought  it  an  "indecorous  exhibi- 
tion" —  and  the  bulk  of  the  evening  parties  were  simply 
conversazioni,  with  elaborate  suppers.  Social  clubs  for 
the  men,  with  houses  of  their  own,  were  not  founded  in 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST         227 

Boston  before  Otis's  old  age,  but  in  this  first  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  several  of  the  dinner  clubs,  which 
are  still  a  characteristic  feature  of  Boston  social  life,  were 
formed  among  congenial  friends.  They  met  weekly  or  fort- 
nightly at  the  members'  houses  or  at  some  well-known 
coffee-house.  Otis,  with  William  Sullivan,  Thomas  Hand- 
asyd  Perkins,  and  other  choice  spirits,  belonged  to  one 
of  these  coteries  known  as  the  "Saturday  Fish  Club,"  of 
which  little  more  than  the  name  is  known.  Sullivan, 
however,  writes  Otis  on  Sunday,  January  13,  1822: 

The  club  dined  yesterday  at  Mr  Joy's  —  mne  from  20  to 
45  years  old  —  and  no  better  for  being  more  than  20.  Besides 
the  members  we  had  Mr.  Henderson  of  N.  York  —  [and]  Mr 

K[ing]  —  Brother  Rufus,  who  complained  to  Mr  J that 

the  women  wear  no  pockets  nowadays.  .  .  .  Joy  broke  the 
sober  rules  of  the  club,  by  bringing  in  oysters  from  the  shell,  to 
give  a  gout,  and  a  market,  for  his  wine;  —  it  certainly  needed 
no  such  aid. 

The  alliance  between  gentility  and  government  con- 
tinued in  Massachusetts  long  after  it  was  sundered  in  the 
nation  as  a  whole.  Boston  society  was  Federalist  to 
the  core,  and  supplied  practically  all  the  Federalist  lead- 
ers. As  a  consequence,  it  looked  with  mingled  fear  and 
contempt  upon  the  Democratic  party,  and  consistently 
ostracized  the  few  gentlemen  like  Elbridge  Gerry,  Perez 
Morton,  and  (after  1808)  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  be- 
longed to  it.  Seldom,  before  the  "era  of  good  feelings," 
was  a  follower  of  Jefferson  invited  to  pass  the  portals 
of  a  leading  Boston  family.  Mr.  Theophilus  Parsons,  Jr., 
tells  us,  in  his  memoir  of  his  father,  that  he  never  saw  a 
"Jacobin"  in  his  father's  house  until  1807,  when  his 
Uncle  Cross,  a  Maine  Democrat,  was  invited  to  dine  there 
while  visiting  Boston.  The  children  examined  him  atten- 
tively, as  a  specimen  of  a  new  and  strange  breed.  In  the 


228  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

course  of  the  dinner,  the  Chief  Justice  remarked  pleas- 
antly, "Mr.  Cross,  take  a  glass  of  wine  with  me,"  and 
handed  him  the  decanter,  when  to  the  consternation  of 
the  company,  young  Theophilus  called  out,  "Why,  he  is 
not  a  Jacobin,  after  all!"  —  "No,  my  young  friend,  I  am 
not  a  Jacobin;  at  least,  I  hope  not,"  —  said  Uncle  Cross. 
"Did  you  think  I  was.'^"  —  "  Yes,  sir,"  said  young  hope- 
ful, "but  I  see  you  are  not,  for  I  have  heard  father  say, 
again  and  again,  that  nothing  on  earth  would  make  him 
drink  wine  with  a  Jacobin!"  —  at  which  point  the  con- 
versation was  broken  off  by  young  Theophilus  being  sent 
away  from  the  table. 

Another  amusing  instance  of  Federalism  in  social  life, 
is  given  in  the  diary  of  Otis's  half  sister,  Harriet,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-four.  Speaking  of  a  public  ball  at  Wash- 
ington, she  writes: 

An  introduction  to  the  Messrs  W ,  printers  and  demos, 

the  most  remarkable  circumstance  —  felt  my  pride  a  little  hurt 
but  checked  such  rebellious  risings  as  well  as  I  could  at  the  time 
and  when  such  things  are  over  they  serve  only  for  diversion. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  put  this  feeling  down  to  snobbishness. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  Otis  and  his  friends,  who  dreaded 
democracy  in  theory,  were  in  many  w^ays  more  democratic 
than  those  who  occupy  a  similar  position  to-day.  They 
lived  on  terms  of  friendly  intimacy  with  their  servants, 
their  tradespeople,  and  their  country  neighbors.  Mr. 
Hale  tells  us  how  "almost  any  morning  might  be  seen 
Col.  Thos.  H.  Perkins,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  William  (Billy) 
Gray,  Ben.  Bussey,  Peter  C.  Brooks,  Israel  Thorndike 
and  other  wealthy  towns  folk,  trudging  homeward  for 
their  eight  o'clock  breakfast  with  their  market  baskets 
containing  their  one  o'clock  dinner."  ^°  One  of  Mr.  Par- 

"  J.  W.  Hale,  Old  Boston  Town  .  .  .  by  an  1801-er,  12. 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST  229 

sons's  stories  may  give  us  the  key  to  this  seeming  incon- 
sistency. WTien  a  Salem  man  asked  the  elder  Parsons 
why  the  Newburyporters  were  forever  quarreling  about 
religion,  he  replied,  "Because  we  look  upon  religion  as 
having  a  real  importance.  We  think  it  worth  quarrel- 
ing about;  you  don't."  The  situation  was  the  same  in 
politics.  FedersSists  and  Republicans  alike,  at  the  period 
of  which  we  speak,  took  their  politics  with  a  grim  earnest- 
ness that  the  present  generation  can  hardly  comprehend. 
To  a  Federalist,  a  Jacobin  was  an  anarchist,  who  would 
pull  down  the  whole  political  and  social  structure;  Jacob- 
inism was  a  disease  to  be  avoided  and  proscribed.  Dance 
with  a  Jacobin .f*  Drink  wine  with  a  Jacobin?  Of  course 
not !  Would  the  daughter  of  Jefferson  Davis  have  danced 
with  Wendell  Phillips?  Would  Pius  IX  have  invited 
Cavour  to  dinner? 


The  role  in  which  Otis  always  appeared  to  his  best  ad- 
vantage was  that  of  host  to  this  Federalist  aristocracy. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  with  all  his  experience  in  the  society 
of  Washington  and  European  capitals,  could  write  that 
he  had  never  met  a  man  "more  skilled  in  the  useful  art  of 
entertaining  his  friends  "  than  Otis.  He  and  his  wife  were 
blessed  with  the  means  and  facilities  for  indulging  their 
natural  hospitality  to  their  heart's  desire.  Just  before 
returning  to  Boston  in  1801,  Otis  sold  his  house  on  the 
corner  of  Cambridge  and  Lynde  Streets,  and  built  a 
much  larger  one,  now  number  85  Mount  Vernon  Street, 
on  his  portion  of  the  old  Copley  pasture.  This  in  turn  he 
sold  in  1807,  and  built  the  spacious  mansion,  now  number 
45  Beacon  Street.  Here  was  his  home  for  the  remaining 
forty-one  years  of  his  life.  Few  private  dwellings  even  of 
to-day  can  compare  in  size  and  comfort  to  the  old  Otis 


230  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

mansion.  It  was  open  in  front  on  the  Common,  with  a 
view  of  the  Blue  Hills  across  the  Back  Bay,  then  a  broad 
sheet  of  water  that  came  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the 
door.  On  the  other  three  sides  it  was  surrounded  by 
courtyards  and  gardens,  with  an  extensive  ell,  stables, 
and  outbuildings.^^  Some  idea  of  its  size  may  be  gained 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  last  eighteen  years  of  its  owner's 
life  it  sheltered  himself,  three  of  his  married  children, 
with  their  offspring,  each  family  having  a  private  sitting- 
room,  besides  allowing  an  entire  floor  for  entertaining,  and 
leaving  plenty  of  room  for  guests.  Such  a  house  might  be 
thought  enough  for  any  man,  but  in  1809  Otis  purchased 
a  large  farm  in  Watertown,  and  by  extensive  improve- 
ments to  the  house  and  grounds  turned  it  into  a  beautiful 
country  estate,  which  he  named  "Oakley"  —  it  is  now 
the  Oakley  Country  Club.  A  propos  of  the  purchase, 
John  Rutledge  wrote  Otis  from  Charleston,  June  6, 1809: 

Having  settled  the  affairs  of  the  State,  &  put  Democracy 
"in  a  Hole,"  as  that  queer  gentleman  John  Adams  quaintly 
said,  it  seems  you  have  bought  a  Villa,  &  are  going  to  indulge  in 
a  little  rural  felicity.  This  I  presume  is  the  Ton  at  Boston,  &  as 
Mrs.  Otis  &  the  President^^  are  at  the  head  of  the  fashionables, 
getting  this  Country  seat  was,  I  presume,  quite  "en  regie." 
But  it  really  seemed  to  me  that  having  such  a  House  as  you 
have,  with  the  whole  Common  of  Boston  as  an  Apendage,  & 
open  &  improved  grounds  all  around,  might  have  satisfied  any 
man  of  ordinary  ambition.  I  will  with  very  great  pleasure  send 
you  an  assortment  of  Seeds  of  Shrubs  &  Plants  which  may  sub- 
sist in  your  frozen  region  —  but  this,  my  good  friend,  is  not  the 
season.  I  have  spoken  to  a  Mr.  Champneys  who  is  the  President 
of  our  Agricultural  Society,  &  has  in  this  neighbourhood  a 
prodigiously  fine  garden,  &  he  promises  to  make  an  assortment 

1^  The  site  of  the  two  houses  to  the  east  of  the  Otis  mansion  (now  Mr. 
Dixey's,  and  the  annex  to  the  Somerset  Club)  was  Otis's  garden  until  1831.  He 
then  built  one  of  these  houses  for  his  daughter  Mrs.  Ritchie,  and  sold  the  re- 
maining; lot. 

"  Otis  was  then  President  of  the  State  Senate. 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST  231 

of  plants  for  you  in  the  season,  which  will  not  [be]  before  the 
month  of  December.  He  says  that  altho'  you  are  an  Oracle  in 
Politics  &  in  law,  that  you  are  in  the  very  horn  book  of  Botany 
&  Gardening  in  supposing  that  Plants  can  be  removed  at  this 
Season.  As  Mr.  Robert  [Rutledge]  has  determined  to  make  a 
visit  to  Boston  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  deo  vo- 
lente  about  the  beginning  of  August.  Before  that  time  I  shall 
take  the  liberty  of  introducing  to  your  acquaintance  one  of  my 
sisters,  Mrs.  Laurens,  who  in  consequence  of  indisposition  of 
health  must  travel  this  summer  &  will  pass  a  week  or  two  at 
Boston.  Altho  I  owe  you  more  on  the  score  of  friendship  than 
any  man  living,  yet  when  Mrs.  Laurens  leaves  us,  I  must  add 
to  my  Debt  by  recommending  her  to  the  charities  of  Mrs.  Otis 
&  yourself.  I  pray  of  you  to  present  me  affectionately  to  Mrs. 
Otis,  Miss  Eliza,  Sarah  &  the  young  folks.  I  request  you  would 
give  my  afiPections  to  Mason  &  say  to  him  that  I  shall  be  in 
Boston  in  August — in  the  meantime  God  bless  you  &  yours  — 

J.  R 

Oakley  was  the  scene  of  many  a  jolly  house  party,  but 
the  Beacon  Street  mansion  was  the  centre  of  Otis  hospi- 
tality. Here  in  1817  Otis  entertained  President  Monroe, 
during  his  visit  to  Boston  that  inaugurated  the  "era  of 
good  feelings";  in  fact,  he  oflFered  the  entire  house  to  the 
Chief  Magistrate  and  his  suite,  who  refused  this  lavish 
hospitality.  In  the  spring  and  summer  a  constant  stream 
of  family  friends  came  for  visits  from  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Virginia,  and  Charleston.  Almost  every  visitor 
of  distinction  in  Boston  brought  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  Mr.  Otis  and  received  his  hospitality,  —  "We  have 
kept  tavern  for  John  Bull  these  thirty  years,"  he  wrote  in 
1820.  Every  Thanksgiving  a  huge  family  reunion  of  the 
numerous  Otis,  Foster,  Lyman,  and  Thorndike  connec- 
tions was  held  around  the  great  dining-table.  In  the 
winter  season,  there  were  frequently  parties  of  two  hun- 
dred or  more,  and  little  incidents  like  the  following, 
related  in  one  of  Otis's  letters,  were  not  uncommon : 


232  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Night  before  last,  Sophia  undertook  to  ask  Mrs  I.  P.  Davis 
and  Miss  Lovell  to  eat  buckwheats,  and  the  party  swelled  to 
between  twenty  &  thirty,  —  all  the  2nd  &  3d  generation  of 
Fosters,  my  sisters,  Thorndikes,  Callanders,  Holleys,  and  half 
a  doz  Codmans,  Grays,  Brooks'  &c  to  fill  up  chinks. 

Those  old  Bostonians  thoroughly  and  sincerely  en- 
joyed the  fine  art  of  eating  and  drinking.  While  the  Otis 
family  were  in  residence,  a  blue-and-white  Lowestoft 
punch-bowl,  with  a  capacity  of  about  ten  gallons,  was 
placed  every  afternoon  on  the  landing  halfway  up  to  the 
drawing-room,  and  kept  filled  with  punch  for  the  benefit 
of  visitors.  Otis  was  famous  as  a  gourmet  and  a  connois- 
seur of  wines,  although  how  he  managed  to  indulge  in  the 
good  things  of  this  world  on  the  scale  that  he  did  through 
forty  gouty  years,  is  hard  to  imagine.  Family  tradition 
is  positive  that  a  regular  breakfast  dish  of  his,  even  at 
the  age  of  eighty,  was  a  moderate-sized  terrine  of  pate  de 
foie  gras.  After  beginning  the  day  in  this  fashion,  the 
Otis  family  would  have  a  hearty  lunch  at  eleven  or  twelve, 
followed  by  dinner  at  some  time  between  half-past  two 
and  half-past  four,  and  a  substantial  supper  at  eight  or 
nine  in  the  evening.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  punch-bowl 
on  the  stairs  prevented  the  male  members  of  the  family 
from  becoming  thirsty  during  the  afternoon,  and  Otis 
tradition  assures  us  that  a  special  ice-chest,  within  easy 
reach,  was  kept  filled  with  jellies,  whips,  and  syllabubs  for 
whoever  might  be  attacked  by  hunger  between  meals.  At 
the  dinner-table,  there  was  none  of  your  modern  false 
modesty  about  looking  at  food,  —  the  joints  and  pies 
were  kept  on  the  table,  to  regale  the  sight  and  the  nostrils. 
Variety  was  not  great,  but  abundance  was  unstinted.  "I 
wish  you  could  get  here  by  dinner  time,"  Otis  once  wrote 
to  his  wife,  while  she  was  at  New  York,  and  the  older  chil- 
dren at  Oakley.    He  then  adds  a  sketch  of  the  dining- 


I 


HARRY  OTIS,  FRIEND  AND  HOST 


233 


room  by  way  of  explanation.  Mr.  Theodore  Lyman  is 
dining  with  Mr.  Otis,  and  William  and  James  Otis,  aged 
fourteen  and  fifteen,  are  seated  at  the  sideboard;  all  are 
eating  their  soup.  A  large  saddle  of  mutton  adorns  the 
centre  of  the  table,  and  the  four  corners  are  garnished 
with  a  leg  of  lamb,  a  Virginia  ham,  a  "pye,"  and  a  salmon. 
"Brants  &  chickens  for  second  course,"  a  note  informs 
us:  the  vegetables  and  dessert  are  left  to  the  imagination. 
If  this  was  a  simple  family  meal,  the  table  must  have 
fairly  groaned  at  a  formal  dinner.  Otis  in  his  later  years 
loved  to  relate  the  answer  of  his  victualer,  when  pressed 
to  tell  whether  he  had  any  customer  so  good  as  Mr.  Otis. 
After  scratching  his  head  awhile,  the  tradesman,  a  non- 
committal Yankee,  replied  that  he  guessed  he  sent  about 
as  much  to  the  Hotel  Albion. 

The  consumption  of  old  Madeira  in  nineteenth-cen- 
tury Boston  was  likewise  enormous.  Otis's  old  friend, 
George  Harrison,  of  Philadelphia,  was  the  United  States 
agent  for  the  famous  house  of  Duff  Gordon  &  Co.,  and 
received  the  orders  of  Otis  and  his  Boston  friends  for  that 
king  of  wines.  Here  is  a  sample  consignment  of  Madeira 
at  forty-six  pounds  sterling  the  pipe  (a  double  hogshead 
containing  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  gallons) : 


Jonn.  Mason 

60  Dy  St  13 

£46 

Ditto 

((       t< 

82.10 

Gardiner  Green 

((       (< 

46 

Ditto 

«       << 

46 

I.  P.  Davis 

<<       <( 

82.10 

John  Lowell  Junr. 

<(       (< 

60 

Thomas  Perkins 

((       (< 

46 

Lady  Temple  ^* 

((       <( 

46 

William  Phillips 

<(       << 

46 

^'  Abbreviation  for  "Draft  at  sixty  days'  sight." 

^*  Widow  of  Sir  John  Temple,  the  former  British  consul-general,  and  grand- 
mother of  Robert  C.  Winthrop. 


234 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


50  Dy  St       46 

46 

46 

46 

46 

46 

46 

46 

92 

23.10. 

23.10. 

23.10. 

46 

£  Stg  1077.10 

Jeremiah  Allen 
Andrew  Allen 
Benjn.  Bussey 
Danl  Davis 
Commodore  Preble 
E.  H.  Derby 
John  Phillips 
P  C  Brooks 
Andrew  Seaton 
John  Philips  Junr. 
Prentess  Mellen 
Saml  S  Wilde 
H.  G.  Otis 


In  addition  to  his  quota  in  the  above  consignment, 
which  arrived  in  September,  1807,  Otis  procured  another 
pipe  direct.  The  previous  year,  he  had  received  "2  pipes 
choice  particular  Madeira  wine  in  strong  iron-bound 
casks  at  £45  Stg.  p.  pipe,  mark'd  H  G  O  branded  I  A  G," 
and  *'l  Pipe  ditto  wine";  but  in  1809  he  evidently  con- 
sidered it  necessary  to  lay  in  a  new  stock,  for  in  that  year 
George  Harrison  writes,  "I  will  order  'H  G  O  —  G  H* 
of  very  superior  wine  for  you,  &  God  grant  that  I  may 
partake  of  it  when  ripe  7  years  hence." 

A  natural  consequence  of  the  high  living  then  preva- 
lent was  the  gout,  with  which  Otis  was  afflicted  during  the 
last  forty  years  of  his  life.  It  was  an  irritating  disease, 
that  soured  the  temper  of  many  an  old  gentleman;  but 
Otis's  temper  and  constitution  were  both  proof  against  it. 
Although  he  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-three,  he  retained 
until  the  last  his  wit,  good  nature,  and  every  quality  that 
endeared  him  to  his  fellow  men. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

FAMILY  RELATIONS  —  EXPANSION  —  LITERATURE  — 
ORATORY  —  HARVARD  COLLEGE 

1801-1816,  ^T.  36-51 

Many  persons  who  did  not  know  Otis  well,  and  a  num- 
ber of  those  who  did,  imagined  him  consumed  with  am- 
bition for  political  preferment.  Otis  was  ambitious,  as 
most  politicians  and  statesmen  are,  for  as  John  Quincy 
Adams  once  wrote:  "The  seliBsh  and  the  social  passions 
are  intermingled  in  the  conduct  of  every  man  acting  in  a 
public  capacity.  It  is  right  that  they  should  be  so,  and  it 
is  no  just  cause  of  reproach  to  any  man  that  in  promoting 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power  the  public  good,  he  is  desirous 
at  the  same  time  of  promoting  his  own."  Otis  liked  the 
sense  of  leadership,  the  excitement,  and  the  glory,  such 
as  there  was,  in  political  life;  but  he  liked  still  more  the 
quiet  of  private  life,  and  the  liberty  to  employ  his  time 
in  contributing  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  family  and  friends. 
He  frequently  refused  public  office,  when  the  acceptance 
of  it  meant  separation  from  his  family  or  interference  in 
any  way  with  his  domestic  happiness.  A  few  extracts 
from  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Otis  will  show  that  he  was  essen- 
tially a  man  of  domestic  tastes. 

December  3,  1797. 

You  think  it  probable  I  shall  find  this  path  of  politics  rough 
with  thorns.  I  agree  that  it  is  very  probable.  But  is  it  not  bet- 
ter to  make  the  experiment  early  and  to  realize  the  vanity  of 
these  pursuits  in  season  to  leave  them  and  follow  such  as  are 
more  consolatory.''  I  always  knew  that  my  habits  were  naturally 
domestic  and  that  my  happiness  was  to  be  found  only  in  the 


236  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

bosom  of  my  family.  Perhaps  however  I  owe  something  to  my 
country,  and  I  may  as  well  discharge  the  debt  now,  as  at  a 
time  when  my  children  will  require  my  more  constant  and  im- 
mediate attention.  I  must  however  consider  my  seperation 
from  you  under  any  circumstances,  as  a  chasm  in  my  existence, 
which  no  honors  can  fill  up;  &  which  having  once  passed,  I 
shall  not  consent  to  widen  by  leaving  you  again. 

February  4,  1800. 

Dear  Angel;  —  but  a  few  weeks  and  I  come  to  you;  never 
(unless  forced  by  necessity),  never  again  to  quit  your  side 
for  distant  &  tedious  employments.  It  is  my  firm  resolution, 
not  to  serve  another  Congress,  whether  I  shall  resign,  before 
the  next  session,  depends  much  on  yourself,  if  health  &  inclina- 
tion should  render  it  eligible  for  you  to  accompany  me,  &  suit- 
able accomodations  can  be  procured  it  is  probable  that  I  may 
take  you  to  Washington  for  one  season;  but  I  certainly  will 
never  go  there  without  you. 

When  he  refused  the  Federalist  nomination  for  Repre- 
sentative and  returned  to  Boston,  in  1801,  it  was  with  the 
hope  of  giving  up  politics  altogether.  But  he  was  soon 
forced  back  into  the  whirlpool  by  the  pressure  of  his 
friends  and  by  his  own  sense  of  duty.  Every  year  from 
1802  to  1817  he  served  in  one  branch  or  another  of  the 
State  Legislature,  a  career  with  much  hard  work,  and  no 
compensating  glory.  "  I  have  not  yet  had  a  chance  of  liv- 
ing for  myself,"  he  writes  his  Aunt  Warren  in  1809,  "nor 
for  the  pleasures  of  and  advantages  of  sweet  communion 
with  any  particular  connections.  I  sometimes  am  so  san- 
guine as  to  hope  that  these  blessings  are  not  forever 
alienated  from  me  even  in  this  world,  but  the  hours  fly, 
and  my  white  hairs  become  daily  more  discernible." 

In  1816,  every  effort  was  made  to  make  Otis  accept  the 
Federalist  nomination  for  Governor  of  Massachusetts. 
"I  have  authorized  and  requested  particular  persons  to 
say  in  the  most  positive  and  unequivocal  manner  that  I 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  237 

will  not  be  a  Candidate,"  he  wrote  his  wife,  on  January  19 
of  that  year;  "I  wish  not  to  espouse  the  Commonwealth 
while  you  live,  nor  to  take  charge  of  the  immense  family, 
untill  my  own  boys  are  provided  for."  In  spite  of  his  pro- 
tests, the  formal  nomination  was  tendered  to  him,  and 
promptly  declined.  A  few  days  later  he  wrote  Mrs.  Otis: 

There  is  great  sensation  produced  by  my  declining  what  all 
the  wise  and  sagacious  heads  believe  to  have  been  the  object 
of  my  pursuit  for  years.  .  .  .  Nobody  can  imagine  my  motives 
for  refusing  what  was  never  refused  before,  because  nobody 
can  conceive  that  the  joys  of  domestic  life  and  the  command 
of  ones  own  society  and  movements  are  to  be  placed  in  com- 
petition with  the  honor  of  the  office. 

The  following  year  (1817)  Otis  accepted  a  seat  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  a  position  considered  at  that  time 
inferior  to  a  governorship,  to  which  he  subsequently 
aspired;  but  his  action  was  due  to  special  circumstances, 
namely,  his  share  in  the  responsibility  for  incurring  the 
Massachusetts  war  claim.  ^  The  fact  remains  that  he 
refused  the  highest  honor  that  his  party  could  bestow 
upon  him,  simply  because  he  feared  that  it  would  con- 
flict with  his  domestic  happiness.  According  to  family 
tradition,  however,  Otis  during  his  later  life  would  have 
welcomed  a  diplomatic  appointment  from  the  federal 
government.  His  friends  always  believed  that  any  post 
he  desired  might  have  been  his,  had  he  confessed  his  polit- 
ical sins  and  abjured  the  Hartford  Convention.  It  was 
well  known  that  he  was  frequently  conducted  to  a  high 
mountain-top  by  leaders  of  the  Jeffersonian  party,  and 
shown  visions  of  great  offices  and  honors  that  might  be 
his,  if  he  would  become  one  of  them.^  But  Otis  was  not 

*  See  below,  chap.  xxix. 

*  J.  Quincy,  Figures  of  the  Past,  317;  S.  K.  Lothrop,  Sermon  on  H.  G.  Otis,  24; 
Loring,  202.  In  1808,  after  Christopher  Gore  had  been  given  the  Federalist 
nomination  for  governor,  the  opposition  press  openly  hinted  that  only  in  the 


238  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

the  man  to  renounce  the  truth  and  right,  as  he  saw  it,  for 
worldly  advantage,  and  he  always  let  it  be  distinctly 
understood  that  whoever  chose  him,  chose  an  unrepent- 
ant Hartford  Convention  Federalist.  It  is  a  great  pity 
that  the  country  could  not  have  had  the  services  of  such 
a  man  as  Harrison  Gray  Otis  at  the  court  of  St.  James  or 
of  the  Tuileries;  his  tactful,  genial  nature,  his  fine  pres- 
ence and  genuine  hospitality,  his  education  and  gentle 
blood,  his  long  experience  in  public  life,  all  fitted  him  for 
a  high  diplomatic  position.  But  it  would  have  required 
a  remarkable  degree  of  political  temerity  for  any 
President  of  the  United  States  to  honor  the  leader  and 
defender  of  the  Hartford  Convention. 

The  position  that  Otis  loved,  far  more  than  any  politi- 
cal honor,  was  that  of  chief  of  his  numerous  clan  of  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren,  nephews,  nieces,  and  cousins.^ 
When  he  settled  down  in  Boston  for  good  in  1801,  he 
already  had  a  family  of  six;  two  children  had  died  young; 

Democratic  party  could  an  Otis  hope  to  receive  due  recognition  of  his  talents. 
In  1816  a  number  of  leading  Democrats  offered  to  support  him  for  the  Demo- 
cratic nomination  for  governor,  against  Samuel  Dexter.  (Otis  to  Mrs.  Otis, 
February  11,  1816.) 

'  His  children  were  as  follows: 

1.  Elizabeth  Gray  Otis,  1791-1824,  m.  George  W.  Lyman,  son  of  Theodore 
Lyman.  Four  children. 

2.  Uarrison  Gray  Otis,  Jr.,  1792-1827,  a  lawyer  of  some  prominence ;  m. 
(1817)  Eliza  Henderson  Boardman,  the  well-known  and  public-spirited  Mrs. 
Harrison  Gray  Otis  of  Civil  War  times.  Five  children. 

3.  Sally  Otis,  1793-1819,  m.  Israel  Thorndike,  Jr.  Four  children. 

4.  Mary  Foster  Otis,  1795-96. 

5.  Alleyne  Otis,  1796-1806. 

6.  George  Otis,  1797-98. 

7.  Sophia  Harrison  Otis,  1798-1874,  m.  (1823)  Andrew  Ritchie,  Jr.  Three 
children. 

8.  James  William  Otis,  1800-69,  a  merchant,  resided  in  New  York,  m.  (1825) 
Martha  C.  Church,  of  Providence.  Seven  children. 

9.  William  Foster  Otis,  1801-58,  a  prominent  lawyer  and  churchman;  m. 
(1831)  Emily  Marshall,  the  celebrated  beauty.  Three  children. 

10.  Alleyne  Otis,  1807-73. 

11.  George  Harrison  Otis,  1810-33. 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  239 

and  three  more  were  afterwards  born:  in  all  seven  sons 
and  four  daughters.  In  his  family  life  Otis  appeared  at 
his  very  best.  It  was  usual,  in  the  early  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, for  parents  to  impress  their  children  w^ith  the  fact 
that  an  awful  gulf  existed  between  them  and  their  elders. 
"Honored  Papa,"  and  "Honored  Mamma,"  were  the 
proper  titles  by  which  to  address  a  parent,  and  the  for- 
malities of  a  court  were  exacted  in  the  daily  life  of  the 
household.  With  the  Otis  family  it  was  otherwise.  Har- 
rison Gray  Otis,  without  spoiling  his  children,  made  him- 
self their  friend,  and  like  Squire  Bracebridge,  made  each 
and  every  one  feel  that  home  was  the  best  place  on  earth. 
Otis  was  the  patron  saint  of  his  poor  relations,  espe- 
cially of  the  loyalist  Grays  in  England,  who  were  ever  im- 
pecunious. Until  1830  Harrison  Gray  the  younger  lived  a 
grumbling  existence  in  London,  supported  by  a  small 
pension  from  the  government,  and  the  little  American 
property  that  his  nephew  had  managed  to  save  from  the 
old  Treasurer's  estate.  The  reader  may  remember  Jack 
Gray,  the  young  loyalist  of  1775,  who  was  entrusted  to 
the  Otises  in  Barnstable  for  safe  keeping  during  the  siege 
of  Boston.  His  capacity  for  getting  into  trouble  evidently 
remained  his  leading  characteristic,  to  judge  from  the 
following  letter,  from  Harrison  Gray  to  Otis,  describing 
Uncle  Jack's  departure  for  Demerara  to  seek  his  fortune : 

N44  Rathbone  Place  June  4th  1804 
Dear  nephew  — 

.  .  .  Your  Uncle  saild  from  Falmouth  the  3d  of  April  with  a 
fair  Wind  which  continued  three  Weeks  so  I  am  in  hopes  he  has 
arrived  before  this  time  to  the  place  of  his  destination.  ...  I 
hope  to  God  he  will  do  well,  the  great  expectation  I  have  formed 
of  it  has  in  great  measure  tranquillized  my  Pillow,  his  greatest 
Fault  is  being  too  easy  and  thinks  every  person  is  as  well  dis- 
posed as  himself,  but  unfortunately  he  had  reason  to  Alter  his 


240  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Opinion  before  he  left  Town  as  the  very  Evening  before  he  in- 
tended to  leave  Town  he  was  arrested  and  taken  to  a  Spunging 
House  by  a  Man  he  had  conceived  to  be  his  good  Friend,  I  had  to 
borrow  the  money  the  next  day  to  get  him  liberated  the  debt 
was  twenty  pounds  &  the  Damn  infamous  Charges  £9.5.7 
this  happened  on  a  Saturday  &  I  wishd  him  very  much  to  leave 
London  on  the  Thursday  before  as  I  was  sensible  he  was  exposed 
every  day  he  appeared  to  a  Set  of  Rapacious  Creditors  who  only 
wanted  to  find  him  to  distress  him,  he  thought  well  of  them, 
the  next  day  After  he  was  discharged  from  this  execrable  & 
infamous  place,  which  is  a  disgrace  to  the  Government,  I  was 
determined  to  get  him  out  of  London  &  the  next  morning  he 
went  &  arrived  at  Portsmouth  in  the  Evening  &  he  wrote  me  the 
day  After  to  say  the  Ship  from  the  Downs  had  not  got  round 
and  the  next  Sunday  following  as  I  was  at  Breakfast  a  Knock 
at  my  door  was  Announced,  and  as  Usual  I  said  walk  in,  and 
to  my  Utter  Astonishment,  when  I  turned  my  head  round,  I 
found  it  was  your  Uncle,  I  was  surprized  to  that  degree  that  I 
was  deprived  of  the  power  of  Utterance  for  some  time  &  so 
was  he,  when  I  recoverd  I  said  in  the  Name  of  God  what  has 
happened  have  you  lost  your  passage,  he  said  no  but  as  he  was 
going  to  embark  he  was  Arrested  for  £13.10  by  a  Hair  dresser 
who  he  did  not  owe  one  farthing  to,  and  who  he  saw  every 
day  before  he  left  Town,  the  Scoundrel  took  the  Advantage  of 
his  situation  as  he  knew  all  his  moments  &  swore  to  his  debt. 
Your  Uncle  was  soaked  through  as  he  rode  all  Night  outside 
the  Coach,  inside  being  full.  I  made  him  comfortable  by  a 
change  of  Cloaths  &  lined  his  inside  to  prevent  his  taking  cold, 
the  day  he  was  Arrested  there  was  no  post  to  London  &  he  did 
not  know  a  person  there  &  the  Convoy  waiting  only  for  a  fair 
Wind  to  depart  under  all  these  unpleasant  Circumstances.  The 
Sheriffs  advised  him  to  step  into  the  Coach  for  London  &  return 
the  next  day  &  they  made  him  deposit  all  his  baggage  Watch 
&c  &c  as  a  pledge  until  he  returned,  &  being  Sunday  I  did  not 
know  where  to  apply  for  the  money  as  all  Banks  were  shut  & 
most  all  my  Friends  in  the  Country,  fortunately  the  Man  of 
the  House  where  I  live  had  twenty  pounds  by  him  which  I 
borrowed  and  added  two  more  as  the  Charges  was  £7.15.6  & 
immediately  sent  to  take  his  place  for  that  Evening  &  after  I 
made  him  eat  a  Beefsteak  &  a  pint  of  Wine  I  accompanied  him 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  241 

to  the  Coach  &  saw  him  off  once  more  After  paying  £50.11.1 
which  to  a  positive  Certainty  woud  have  been  saved,  if  he  had 
left  Town  the  day  I  urged  him.  as  the  poor  fellow  seemed  so 
much  Affected  I  could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  say  any  thing 
about  it,  my  Mind  was  on  the  torture  for  fear  he  would  lose  his 
passage,  as  the  Wind  changed  favorable.  I  had  no  peace  until 
I  heard  from  him  which  was  on  Tuesday  dated  at  3  oClock 
on  Monday  saying  he  Arrived  at  8  oClock  very  much  fatigued 
not  having  his  Cloaths  off  for  48  hours  having  rode  two  Nights 
&  that  the  infamous  Scoundrels  did  not  discharge  him  until 
3  oClock  &  he  was  then  going  on  board  as  the  Convoy  was 
Under  Weigh  with  a  fair  Wind,  you  can  better  judge  of  my 
extreme  suffering,  &  the  torture  my  mind  experienced  than 
I  can  possibly  find  Language  to  convey  and  I  did  not  know 
until  Thursday  whether  he  got  on  board,  this  is  a  true  Account 
so  help  me  God.  remember  me  affectionately  to  all  your  dear 
family  &  I  sincerely  wish  your  health  &  happiness  may  be  as 
great  as  your  liberality  &  Kindness  has  been  to  your  good  Uncle 
tho  unfortunate  he  received  the  twenty  pounds  from  JNIessr 
Dickason  &  he  told  me  he  had  wrote  you.  God  bless  you  & 
am  in  great  haste  your  Affectionate  Uncle  &  friend 

H  Gray 
That  Scoundrel  Bonaparte  is  made  Emperor  of  the  gauls  &c 
&c  &  I  am  afraid  he  will  ultimately  be  Emperor  of  all  the  World. 

The  fever  in  the  West  Indies  soon  put  an  end  to  the 
troubles  of  happy-go-lucky  Uncle  Jack,  and  on  Otis  fell 
the  duty  of  helping  support  the  two  orphan  daughters 
left  entirely  destitute.  Otis  in  fact  acquired  among  the 
Gray  connection  a  reputation  for  benevolence  far  too 
great  for  his  comfort.  In  June,  1812,  he  received  a  letter 
from  a  prominent  lawyer  of  New  Orleans  informing  him 
of  the  sudden  death  the  previous  October  of  "Judge 
Turner  and  his  lady,"  the  former  a  Boston  man  who  had 
settled  on  a  sugar  plantation  in  Louisiana,  the  latter  a 
daughter  of  Harrison  Gray,  Jr.  After  giving  a  few  details 
in  regard  to  the  property,  which  seemed  likely  to  be  wiped 
out  by  debts,  the  writer  coolly  announced : 


242  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

I  proceed  to  inform  you,  that  I  now  send  you  their  seven 
children  by  the  brig  Juno,  Capt:  Arnold,  accompanied  by  an 
old  Negro  woman  named  Dolly  ...  to  whom  the  children  are 
extremely  attached.  .  .  .  You  will  be  satisfied,  I  presume.  Sir, 
with  my  addressing  these  unhappy  orphans  to  you,  in  prefer- 
ence to  any  other  person  of  Mr.  Turner's  family,  whose  names 
have  come  to  my  knowledge.  I  know  by  letters  I  have  found 
among  the  papers  of  the  deceased,  that  he  had  a  Mother  &  a 
sister  living,  but  neither  of  them  in  a  situation  to  take  such  a 
charge  upon  them.  I  know  too  that  he  had  a  brother  living  in 
Boston.  .  .  .  But  Sir,  having  heard  on  all  hands,  that  your 
fortune  &  respectability  render  you  the  only  person  to  whom 
I  can  with  propriety  send  them,  I  cannot  hesitate  at  so  doing; 
and  I  do  it  in  the  full  confidence  that  you  will  receive  and  act 
by  them,  as  I  am  persuaded  our  poor  deceased  friend  wou'd 
have  done  by  yours  under  like  circumstances. 

The  writer  goes  on  to  request  that  Otis  see  to  the  main- 
tenance and  education  of  these  seven  children,  without 
any  likelihood  of  procuring  a  penny  for  their  support  from 
their  father's  estate.  Otis,  as  maybe  supposed,  was  some- 
what taken  aback  by  this  extraordinary  announcement. 
He  threatened  to  send  the  seven  unfortunate  orphans 
back  to  New  Orleans,  if  sufficient  funds  for  their  support 
were  not  relinquished  from  the  estate  by  the  lawj^ers. 
Since  they  finally  produced  the  money,  Otis  was  relieved 
from  the  painful  alternative  of  adding  seven  children  to 
his  own  family  of  eight,  or  of  letting  them  become  objects 
of  charity. 

The  first  decade  after  Otis's  return  to  Boston  was  one 
of  economic  expansion,  and  intellectual  awakening  for  his 
native  town.  The  population  of  Boston  increased  from 
24,000  in  1800  to  34,000  in  1810;  the  import  and  ex-port 
trade  expanded  in  even  greater  proportion.  Boston  ves- 
sels were  taking  the  American  flag  into  every  port  of  the 
globe.  The  Canton  trade,  in  which  Otis's  lifelong  friend. 


I 


EXPANSION  243 

Thomas  Handasyd  Perkins,  made  a  fortune,  was  already 
established,  and  through  Boston  enterprise  trade-routes 
were  opened  to  Russia  and  to  the  Oregon  country,  whither 
Captain  Gray's  Columbia  had  shown  the  way.  Otis  never 
engaged  in  commerce,  but  he  did  his  part  in  the  corre- 
sponding development  of  Boston  itself.  A  long  head  for 
business  was  one  of  his  few  Puritanic  qualities,  since  it 
was  mainly  by  wise  investments  in  real  estate  that  his 
property  grew  from  nothing  at  all  in  1786  to  a  consider- 
able fortune  in  1810.  There  were,  indeed,  few  forms  of 
local  enterprise  with  which  he  was  not  connected.  It  was 
due  in  part  to  his  foresight,  as  we  have  seen,  that  Beacon 
Hill  became  a  residential  district.  The  laying  out  of 
Charles  Street  in  1804  opened  up  this  property  consider- 
ably, and  before  long  the  old  Copley  Pasture  began  to 
make  some  return  to  the  Mount  Vernon  Proprietors  on 
their  original  investment  and  on  the  large  sums  they 
found  necessary  to  expend  for  improvements. 

The  town  was  becoming  cramped  on  its  narrow  pen- 
insula even  in  1801,  when  Otis  joined  in  several  enter- 
prises for  securing  more  room  by  artificial  means.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Broad  Street  Association,  that 
extended  the  shore  line  near  Fort  Hill,  and  of  the  cor- 
poration that  filled  in  the  old  mill  pond  near  the  pre- 
sent North  Station.  He  was  largely  responsible  for  the 
annexation  to  Boston  of  Dorchester  Neck,  now  South 
Boston,  for  building  the  first  bridge  to  it  from  Boston, 
and  for  the  earliest  development  of  that  part  of  the 
city." 

*  Otis,  Jonathan  Mason,  Joseph  Woodward,  William  Tudor,  and  Gardiner 
Greene  purchased  the  greater  part  of  Dorchester  Neck  in  1803,  and  were  incor- 
porated as  the  South  Boston  Association.  There  were  only  ten  families  then 
living  on  the  Neck,  and  communication  with  Boston  was  extremely  difficult, 
both  on  account  of  the  long  detour,  and  the  mud  flats  in  the  harbor,  which  pre- 
vented the  plying  of  any  regular  ferry,  ^^fter  much  resistance  from  Dorches- 
ter, the  annexation  of  the  Neck  to  Boston  was  completed  in  1804,  and  the 


S44  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

The  outward  appearance  of  the  town  was  much 
changed  in  these  years.  A  former  Boston  loyaHst,  who 
returned  as  a  British  spy  in  1808,  wrote,  "The  great  num- 
ber of  new  and  elegant  buildings  which  have  been  erected 
in  this  Town,  within  the  last  ten  years,  strike  the  eye 
with  astonishment,  and  prove  the  rapid  manner  in  which 
the  people  have  been  acquiring  wealth."^  Another  visi- 
tor, in  the  year  1816,  noted  that  Boston  could  boast  of 
more  splendid  private  dwellings  than  any  city  of  four 
times  its  population  he  had  seen,  in  America  or  Europe.® 
Several  blocks  of  four  and  five-story  buildings  had  been 
erected,  intruding  upon  the  pleasant  gardens  and  open 
spaces,  and  the  Exchange  Coffee-House,  built  by  a  cor- 
poration of  which  Otis  was  president,  arose  to  the  dizzy 
height  of  seven  stories.  For  the  ten  years  of  its  existence 
(it  burnt  down  in  1818)  this  structure  was  the  largest 
hotel  and  ojQBce  building  in  the  country. 

Expansion  during  this  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century  in  Boston,  was  not  wholly  material.  The  intel- 
lectual ferment  of  the  age,  penetrating  this  conservative 
town,  produced  a  new  interest  in  literature  which  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  great  movement  of  the  Thirties, 
that  made  Boston  the  literary  centre  of  America.^  Little 

Association  then  built  the  first  bridge  across  the  channel.  The  influence  of 
commercial  interests  in  South  Bay  prevented  the  building  of  the  bridge  where 
it  should  have  been,  and  the  growth  of  South  Boston  was  thereby  impeded. 
Others  besides  Otis  and  his  associates  reaped  the  profit  of  its  later  development. 
The  bridge  which  never  paid  a  dividend,  was  sold  in  1832,  at  six  per  cent  of  its 
original  cost. 

^  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  xvii,  78. 

'  E.  S.  Thomas,  Reminiscences,  i,  18. 

'  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  Boston  did  not  earn  the  title  of  "Athens  of 
America"  until  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  well  past.  At 
this  period  Philadelphia  was  the  literary  centre,  if  there  can  be  a  literary  centre, 
when  no  literature  of  permanent  value  was  produced.  It  was  there  that  Tom 
Moore  met  in  1803  the  "sacred  few,"  without  whom 
Columbia's  days  were  done, 
Rank  without  ripeness,  quickened  without  sun. 


I 


LITERATURE  245 

was  produced,  but  much  was  read.  Suspicious  Federal- 
ism tabooed  the  romanticism  of  Jean-Jacques  and  his 
countrymen,  who  were  lumped  together  as  "infidel philos- 
ophers," but  it  welcomed  the  corresponding  movement 
in  Great  Britain,  since  the  approval  of  the  British  public 
vouched  for  the  fact  that  no  "disorganizing  principles" 
were  concealed  therein.  The  well-worn  Popes  and  Spec- 
tators and  Johnsons  were  laid  aside;  Walter  Scott,  Words- 
worth, Miss  Edgeworth,  and  Byron  were  read  by  every 
one. 

Otis  was  not  literary  in  his  tastes,  during  this  period 
of  his  life.  Although  the  first  scholar  in  his  class  at  Har- 
vard, he  always  loved  men  so  much  better  than  books, 
that  he  found  little  time  for  reading.  A  passage  in  one  of 
his  letters  of  1820  to  Mrs.  Otis  indicates  his  taste  in 
literature,  and  will  probably  strike  a  sympathetic  chord 
in  most  modern  readers: 

I  have  employed  myself  in  reading  two  volumes  of  the 
memoirs  of  the  Margravine  of  Bareith  sister  of  Frederick  2d, 
which,  as  far  as  I  have  gone,  ...  is  more  interesting  than  any 
romance  I  have  ever  read.  I  advise  you  to  enquire  for  it.  It 
contains  nothing  which  a  married  lady  may  not  be  known  to 
have  read.  ...  I  worried  thro'  the  Abbot,  as  I  began  it  with 
Gorham.  As  illustrating  an  incident  in  the  life  of  poor  Mary 
Stuart  not  generally  known  (supposing  it  to  be  founded 
on  fact,)  it  is  worth  reading,  but  I  think  little  of  it  as  a 
romance. 

Otis  was  greatly  interested,  however,  in  promoting 
literary  activity  in  his  native  town,  and  he  aided  one 
important  phase  of  it,  the  founding  of  libraries,  literary 
clubs,  and  magazines.  Two  Social  Law  Libraries  were 
founded  in  1806,  the  Theological  Library  in  1807,  and  in 
the  same  year  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  of  which  Otis  was 
one  of  the  earliest  trustees.  One  of  his  younger  friends 


246  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

was  William  Tudor,^  the  leader  in  this  early  literary  move- 
ment in  Boston,  and  skilled  in  many  other  activities  as 
well.  Tudor  founded,  in  1805,  the  Literary  Anthology 
Club,  which  published  the  Monthly  Anthology,  one  of  the 
earliest  American  literary  magazines. 

In  the  period  of  financial  distress  incident  to  Jeffer- 
son's Embargo  and  the  War  of  1812,  the  new  movement 
was  retarded ;  and  the  Monthly  Anthology  brought  to  an 
untimely  end.  After  the  peace  of  1815,  William  Tudor 
and  his  friends  took  up  their  work  with  fresh  zeal,  and 
founded  the  North  American  Review  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Anthology.  Otis's  interest  in  this  new  enterprise  is  shown 
by  the  following  letter  from  him  to  Robert  Goodloe 
Harper,  dated  May  31,  1816. 

My  Dear  Sir 

I  transmit  to  you  a  subscription  paper  for  the  N  American 
review.  The  work  has  hitherto  been  conducted  in  a  mode  quite 
satisfactory  to  the  subscribers.  The  Editor  William  Tudor 
Esquire  is  a  gentleman  of  highly  respectable  talents  &  prin- 
ciples and  it  is  believed  that  with  the  encouragement  of  a  small 
additional  patronage,  the  work  will  be  found  deserving  of  a  dis- 
tinguished rank  in  the  literary  annals  of  our  Country,  If  with- 
out too  much  trouble  you  can  procure  a  few  names,  you  will 
promote  the  cause  of  literature. 

A  letter  from  William  Tudor  to  Otis,  dated  September 
2, 1815,  is  interesting  in  this  connection,  as  showing  in 
its  beginning  the  movement  that  led  to  the  Boston  Mu- 
seum of  Fine  Arts,  as  well  as  the  writer's  aspirations 
for  the  literary  and  artistic  preeminence  of  his  native 
city: 

*  William  Tudor  (1779-1830;  Harvard,  1796)  engaged  in  commerce;  made 
the  grand  tour;  helped  his  brother  establish  the  ice  trade  with  India;  wrote  the 
Life  of  James  Otis,  Letters  on  the  Eastern  States,  and  many  other  works;  was 
joint  author  of  the  first  Boston  city  charter;  and  served  as  State  Representa- 
tive and  minister  to  Brazil. 


I 


LITERATURE  247 

My  Dear  Sir, 

A  few  individuals,  (Dr.  Warren,  I.  P.  Davis,  S.  Wells,  T. 
Lyman,  D.  Sears  jr.  R.  Sullivan,  C.  Codman  &c)  have  met 
together  once  or  twice  to  talk  over  the  possibility  of  getting  up 
an  institution,  for  the  Fine  Arts,  the  enclosed  is  a  hasty  first 
sketch  of  the  paper  that  was  drawn  up  to  form  the  heading  of 
a  subscription  paper,  &  enclose  it  to  you  for  your  perusal,  and 
to  draw  your  pen  across  what  you  may  think  too  broad,  or  if 
there  [are]  any  other  ideas  will  you  suggest  them.  If  certain 
men  could  be  induced  to  put  their  hands  in  their  pockets, 
30,000  Dolls,  might  be  raised  without  inconvenience.  The 
interest  of  the  sum  would  at  once  enable  us  to  make  a  very  great 
shew  in  two  years  it  would  give  us  copies  of  all  the  casts  in  the 
Louvre,  and  some  paintings.  The  income  arising  from  such  an 
exhibition  would  pay  for  its  charges,  and  we  should  have  after 
the  first  two  years  2000  $  to  give  away  to  artists,  this  sum  would 
be  a  sufficient  inducement  to  bring  Allston,  Morse  &  one  or  two 
other  young  men  here,  and  would  give  us  the  start  of  New  York 
&  Philadelphia,  and  strange  as  it  may  seem,  yet  so  far  as  my 
recollection  goes  we  should  have  a  more  complete  collection, 
than  any  permanent,  puhlic  collection  that  I  know  of  in  London. 

Some  of  the  inducements  mentioned  in  the  papery  as  you 
well  know  cannot  weigh  with  me  "per  la  mia  disgracia."  but 
others  do.  I  wish  most  heartily  the  prosperity  of  the  town,  and 
the  enlargement  of  polished  society  in  it.  I  have  heard  a  good 
deal  of  talk  this  summer,  from  the  circumstances  of  my  resi- 
dence, among  southern  people  &  foreigners,  and  the  general 
opinion  of  all  these  people  was  that  Boston  does  &  must  decline, 
that  New  York,  Baltimore,  &  Philadelphia  must  run  away  with 
our  population  &  capital.  This  I  do  not  believe  but  I  believe 
that  exertion  is  at  this  time  very  necessary  to  secure  our  stand- 
ing &  future  increase.  They  are  straining  every  nerve  in  Phila. 
&  Bait,  in  rivalship,  so  in  New  York.  The  object  here  contem- 
plated, may  with  a  bold  effort  at  first,  go  at  once  beyond  them, 
and  will  produce  permanent  advantages.  If  we  can  make  our- 
selves the  capital  of  the  arts  &  sciences,  and  we  have  already 
so  many  powerful  institutions  that  we  may  do  it,  our  town  will 
increase  in  that  sort  of  society  which  is  principally  to  be  de- 
sired. I  think  the  present  state  of  Europe,  will  drive  many  to 
this  country.  Other  events  may  happen  which  will  keep  up  the 


248  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

emigration  from  England  of  persons  who  are  not  mere  laborers 
&  mechanics.  An  object  of  this  kind  trifling  as  it  may  be  in 
reality  will  tend  more  than  ten  times  the  sum  employed  in  any 
other  way  to  give  us  our  share  of  this  increase  of  population. 

Between  four  and  five  thousand  dollars  were  raised  for 
the  proposed  art  collection,  but  the  project  languished 
until  1826,  when  the  Athenaeum  threw  open  the  first  art 
exhibition  ever  held  in  Boston,  a  collection  of  casts  that 
in  after  years  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Boston  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts. 

Otis's  eloquence  was  the  most  conspicuous  of  his  varied 
talents;  and  made  him  famous  in  a  period  of  eminent 
orators.  Down  to  the  last  half-century,  oratory  w^as  one 
of  the  most  potent  forces  in  moulding  public  opinion  and 
in  arousing  popular  enthusiasm  in  America.  Since  then 
our  susceptibility  to  the  power  of  human  speech  has 
gradually  declined,  and  with  this  loss  has  come  a  deter- 
ioration in  the  quality  of  our  oratory.  Fisher  Ames,  draw- 
ing tears  from  Judge  Iredell  and  John  Adams  by  his 
remarkable  speech  on  Jay's  treaty,  makes  a  picture  now 
hard  to  imagine.  Yet  that  power  then  existed,  and  Otis 
possessed  it  to  the  fullest  degree.  We  have  already  seen 
what  a  prodigious  sensation  was  produced  by  his  first 
public  speech  of  importance,  that  on  Jay's  treaty.  With 
the  growing  years  his  mastery  of  the  art  increased,  until 
he  became  the  favorite  spokesman  of  Boston  tow^n  meet- 
ings, and  in  Judge  Story's  opinion,  the  best  popular  orator 
in  the  country.^  Not  only  to  the  cultured,  but  to  all 
classes  of  people,  his  word  was  an  electric  impulse.  It 
used  to  be  said  that  Otis  excited  his  Faneuil  Hall  audi- 
ences to  such  a  degree  that  had  he  called  on  the  people  to 
follow  him  to  burn  the  town,  they  would  have  obeyed. 

*  Francis  Bassett,  Reminiscences  (1871),  8. 


ORATORY  249 

Contemporaries  all  speak  of  his  "voice  of  silvery  sweet- 
ness," so  modulated  as  to  express  every  emotion,  of  his 
fine  features  and  graceful  gestures,  of  his  self-possession 
and  tact.  The  same  personality  that  won  him  friends, 
charmed  his  audiences.  The  qualities  in  his  speaking 
which  most  impressed  his  hearers  were  the  spontaneity, 
the  lack  of  effort,  the  richness  of  his  vocabulary,  and  the 
happy  choice  of  his  words.  Take  this  sentence  as  an 
example,  from  his  speech  in  Faneuil  Hall  after  Hull's 
surrender  in  1812: 

Our  political  orb  has  almost  completed  its  revolution;  it  is 
about  to  set  in  the  cold  and  dreary  regions  of  Canada,  where 
night  and  chaos  will  brood  over  the  last  of  desolated  republics. 

No  sentence  could  better  express  the  sentiment  of 
gloom,  disaster,  and  of  grim  foreboding  with  which 
the  Federal  party  regarded  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land. 

Otis  had  neither  the  marvelous  intellect  and  force  of 
Webster,  nor  the  keen  reasoning  powers  of  Dexter  ;  but 
he  surpassed  even  the  former  in  the  power  of  felicitous 
and  spontaneous  expression.  He  was  once  seated  on  the 
platform  in  Faneuil  Hall  when  Webster,  speaking  in 
favor  of  the  Maysville  Road  Bill,  remarked,  in  the  course 
of  his  speech,  *'I  am  in  favor,  Mr.  Chairman,  of  all  roads, 
except  .  .  .  except  ..."  Here  he  stuck  fast  for  a  word, 
until  Otis,  who  sat  near,  whispered  "The  road  to  ruin!'* 
Webster  adopted  the  suggestion,  and  inserted  Otis's 
happy  phrase  as  if  he  had  merely  paused  to  make  it  more 
effective. 

Of  this  same  felicity  of  expression,  Mr.  Muzzey 
gives  in  his  Reminiscences  another  example, — one  of  the 
best  descriptions  of  Otis's  oratory  that  has  come  down 
to  us: 


250  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Harrison  Gray  Otis  was,  in  the  year  1828,  a  candidate  for 
the  mayoralty  of  Boston.  The  election  being  on  Monday,  as 
was  the  custom  a  caucus  was  held  on  the  Sunday  evening  pre- 
vious. Hon.  Josiah  Quincy  was  the  opposing  candidate.  Two 
men  of  such  ability  drew  a  crowded  audience.  I  regarded  it  as 
a  feast  to  listen  to  both  of  them  on  the  same  occasion.  ISIr.  Otis 
speaks  first.  His  personal  appearance  is  most  striking;  a  large 
frame,  tall,  and  well  proportioned,  with  a  bearing  dignified  and 
courteous,  a  true  "gentleman  of  the  old  school,"  —  his  com- 
plexion florid,  with  bright  eyes,  and  a  pleasing  and  gracious 
expression,  he  prepossesses  general  favor  as  he  rises  from  his 
seat.  This  effect  is  enhanced  by  a  voice  mellow,  flexible,  and 
admirably  modulated.  His  gesticulation  is  graceful,  his  whole 
manner  persuasive.  He  is,  in  fine,  of  the  Ciceronian  school, 
that  of  the  consummate  orator. 

As  he  unfolds  the  policy  he  shall  pursue,  if  elected,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  he  strikes  the  right  key  for  success.  He  is  applauded 
at  frequent  intervals,  and  resumes  his  seat  amid  deafening 
cheers.  It  is  a  trying  moment  for  Mr.  Quincy;  there  are  few 
men  who  could  follow  such  an  effort  entirely  at  their  ease. 
Mr.  Quincy,  —  a  manly  and  noble  figure,  ...  on  almost  any 
other  occasion  would  at  once  have  borne  the  palm  over  the 
ablest  competitor.  But,  with  a  constitutional  hesitancy  of 
speech,  he  feels,  it  is  manifest,  an  unusual  embarassment.  Mr. 
Otis,  seeing  clearly  what  he  is  attempting  to  utter,  rises,  and  in 
a  few  flowing  periods,  gives  an  eloquent  expression  to  the 
thought  of  his  rival.  The  effect  is  electric.  His  noble  magna- 
nimity brings  out  cheer  upon  cheer;  and  it  is  followed  by  a 
speech  from  Mr.  Quincy,  comprehensive,  logical,  worthy  of  the 
man  and  of  the  occasion. 

The  most  famous  of  Otis's  formal  orations  was  his 
eulogy  on  Alexander  Hamilton,  pronounced  at  King's 
Chapel,  Boston,  on  July  26, 1804.  Although  the  only  one 
of  his  speeches  to  be  published  in  a  collection  of  American 
orations,  it  is  far  from  being  his  most  effective  utterance. 
It  opens  with  a  turgid  apostrophe  to  "insatiable  death," 
but  the  remainder,  a  somewhat  dry  outline  of  Hamilton's 
career,  errs  rather  on  the  side  of  simplicity.    To  a  Demo- 


ORATORY  251 

crat,  Otis  seemed  "the  least  objectionable  of  these  eulo- 
gists, because  the  least  false  and  fulsome;  "^°  in  the  opin- 
ion of  many  Federalists,  he  did  not  do  his  subject  justice. 
Otis  was  never  at  his  best  in  formal  orations.  His  pecu- 
liar power  was  extemporaneous;  the  swift  give  and  take 
of  the  Bar  and  the  public  forum.  Almost  any  one  of  his 
speeches  in  Congress,  even  in  the  imperfect  record  of  the 
Annals,  is  "good  reading." 

The  literary  productions  of  Otis  likewise  show  this  dif- 
ference. His  Letters  in  Defence  of  the  Hartford  Convention, 
the  most  careful  of  his  works,  are  dull,  and  bombastic  in 
manner,  but  his  published  Letter  to  William  Heath,  his 
"Envoy"  letters  of  1799,  and  the  off-hand  productions 
of  his  later  years,  are  lucid  and  to  the  point.  Of  the  style 
of  his  letters,  which  are  all  unstudied  productions,  the 
reader  has  already  had  ample  opportunity  to  judge.  It  is 
unpretentious,  sometimes  careless,  but  always  clear,  easy, 
and  without  the  slightest  trace  of  pose  or  cant,  —  in  a 
word,  an  admirable  expression  of  his  genial  and  lovable 
character.  In  writing,  as  in  speaking,  he  excelled  when 
unconscious  of  making  anj'^  effort. 

TMien  over  seventy  years  of  age,  long  after  he  had 
retired  from  active  practice  of  the  law,  Otis  once  argued 
a  case  of  his  own,  involving  the  title  to  his  Beacon  Hill 
property.  The  argument  of  their  aged  colleague  was  a 
revelation  to  the  young  lawyers  present,  one  of  whom 
describes  it  as  follows: 

It  was  something  unlike  in  kind  to  anything  else  I  ever  heard. 
The  winning  music  of  his  voice  made  the  hearer  reluctant  to 
lose  a  word ;  the  flow  of  his  language,  which  was  as  charmingly 
constructed  and  cadenced  as  if  it  had  all  been  carefully  written 
by  a  practiced  writer;  and  the  persuasive  logic,  which  led  you 
along  almost  unconsciously  until  you  stood  in  the  very  position 

"  "Anthony  Pasquin,"  The  Hamiltoniad  (Boston,  1804),  20. 


252  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

in  which  he  would  place  you,  —  in  each  and  all  of  these  he  was 
unrivalled.  And  to  all  these  was  added  their  strongest  charm, 
perhaps,  in  the  apparent  spontaneity  of  it  all.  There  was  no 
effort,  no  appearance  of  saying  or  doing  anything  in  any  way 
which  did  not  come  of  itself.  And  I  believed  then,  and  I  believe 
now,  that  this  was  not  apparent  only,  but  real.  He  had,  if  ever 
man  had,  the  gift  of  eloquence.  And  all,  —  grace  of  delivery, 
sweetness  of  tone,  beauty  of  illustration,  perfect  taste  in  words, 
and  rapidity  and  clearness  of  thought,  —  all  blended  into  one, 
jBowed  on  like  a  river,  and  the  hearer  was  borne  along  upon  the 
rapid  stream,  not  conscious  of  its  power,  and  not  resisting  it. 

This  may  seem,  and  may  be,  the  extravagant  picture  of  a 
laudator  temporis  acti.  Let  me  state,  however,  that  by  my  side 
there  sat  a  gentleman  who  had  not  reached  his  own  foremost 
place  in  our  profession  without  knowing  as  well  as  any  one  what 
were  the  elements  of  successful  speech,  —  I  hope  I  do  not  offend 
against  social  courtesies  when  I  name  Judge  Fletcher,  —  and 
he  turned  to  me,  as  Mr.  Otis  closed,  with  the  whispered  remark: 
"There  is  nothing  like  this  now."  ^^ 

The  life  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis  cannot  be  told  without 
a  word  concerning  his  long  and  intimate  relations  with 
his  Alma  Mater.  As  President  of  the  Senate  of  Massa- 
chusetts, he  was  partly  responsible  —  chiefly  responsible, 
some  have  said —  for  the  Act  of  1810,  altering  the  com- 
position of  the  Board  of  Overseers,  membership  in  which 
had  formerly  been  an  ex  officio  right  of  certain  state  offi- 
cials and  local  churches.  It  was  thought  desirable  by  the 
alumni  to  make  the  board  both  elective  and  secular,  and 
they  brought  about  this  change  through  the  Act  of  1810, 
reducing  the  number  of  ex  officio  seats  from  over  fifty  to 
six,  and  providing  for  the  election  by  the  alumni  of  fif- 
teen laymen  and  fifteen  Congregational  ministers.  Otis 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  first  board  elected  under 
this  act.  Since  the  law  was  a  Federalist  measure,  and 
the  newly  elected  board  was  composed  almost  entirely  of 

"  T.  Parsons,  Parsons,  183. 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  253 

Federalist  politicians,  it  was  made  a  point  of  attack  by  the 
Democratic  party,  and  repealed  during  the  second  admin- 
istration of  Governor  Gerry,  in  1812,  but  reenacted  when 
the  Federalists  returned  to  power  in  1814.  Otis,  to  whom 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  given  that  year,  served 
as  Overseer  until  1825,  and  was  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Cor- 
poration from  1823  to  1825.  But  his  relations  to  the  Uni- 
versity were  not  merely  oflScial.  He  acted  as  a  father  to 
numerous  Harvard  students  coming  from  a  distance,who 
were  recommended  to  his  care  by  his  friends  in  the  South- 
ern and  Middle  States.  John  Rutledge,  for  example, 
writes  him  from  Charleston  on  January  19,  1808: 

My  dear  friend, 

I  enclose  you  a  draft  on  Robt  Lenox  for  the  use  of  my  Son. 
That  he  may  learn  to  keep  his  own  accounts,  &  have  no  excuse 
for  incurring  any  Debts,  I  wish  my  good  friend  that  you  would 
pay  him  monthly  Fifty  Dollars,  or,  if  it  would  be  more  agreeable 
to  him,  one  hundred  &  fifty  once  in  three  months.  With  a  due 
regard  to  economy  (which  I  hope  he  will  observe)  Six  hundred 
Dollars  a  year  will  be  a  suflBcient  allowance  during  his  residence 
at  Cambridge. 

March  26,  1809: 

I  enclose  a  Bill  of  Exchange  for  the  use  of  my  Boys.  Pray 
my  dr  friend,  discourage  as  much  as  possible  their  visiting  Bos- 
ton, frequenting  Taverns,  driving  carriages  &c  &c.  It  is  using 
a  great  freedom  I  know  to  draw  upon  your  Charities  in  this 
way  —  I  also  know  it  is  not  "Othelo's  occupation"  to  be  lec- 
turing &  ordering  Boys.  I  know  how  much,  &  how  well,  "he 
serves  the  state";  but  my  friend  unless  you  have  the  goodness 
&  humility  to  condescend  to  advise  these  fellows,  &,  by  your 
parental  attentions,  give  some  correction  to  their  aberations, 
I  fear  that  the  objects  of  their  residence  at  Cambridge  will  not 
be  realized.  John  writes  to  me  of  the  brilliance  of  Mrs  Apthorpes 
Ball,  Mrs  Otis's  Parties,  &c.  This  is  all  wrong,  &  these  Boys 
must  not  be  permitted  to  have  any  engagements  but  with  their 
Books. 


254  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

The  undergraduates  of  Harvard  during  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century  were  wont  to  express  their  dis- 
approval of  existing  conditions  by  the  modern  methods 
of  strike,  boycott,  and  sabotage.  In  1805  occurred  the 
famous  "Bread  and  Butter  Rebellion."  As  a  protest 
against  the  quality  of  food  provided  by  the  College,  the 
student  body  refused  for  ten  successive  days  to  attend 
Commons.  The  college  authorities  then  suspended  regu- 
lar exercises,  and  threatened  a  general  lockout;  but  Otis 
and  Samuel  Dexter  interposed,  and  succeeded  in  restor- 
ing peace  through  arbitration. 

Otis's  son  William  was  a  ringleader  in  another  student 
uprising  of  1818,  the  so-called  "Great  Rebellion,"  which 
was  caused  by  an  attempt  of  the  faculty  to  enforce  disci- 
pline, after  all  the  college  crockery  had  been  broken  dur- 
ing a  glorious  battle  in  Commons  between  freshmen  and 
sophomores.  Young  Otis,  together  with  George  Wash- 
ington Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  stimulated  perhaps 
by  the  historic  names  they  bore,  then  rallied  the  sopho- 
more class  around  the  Rebellion  Tree  in  front  of  Hollis, 
as  a  protest  against  the  faculty's  tyranny.  President 
Kirkland  summoned  them  into  his  presence,  and  warned 
them  against  returning  to  the  tree — which  they  promptly 
did.  Finally,  writes  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  this  "burlesque 
of  patriots  struggling  with  tyrants  "  played  itself  out,  and 
ended  with  several  rustications  and  suspensions.  Harri- 
son Gray  Otis  was  absent  in  Washington  at  the  time,  but 
his  son  was  saved  from  serious  punishment  by  the  inter- 
position of  his  elder  brother  Harry,  of  the  class  of  1811. 
Their  father  wrote  their  mother  on  November  2i2,  1818: 

I  presume  order  is  restored  at  Harvard.  Old  Mr  Adams  mis- 
takes the  genius  of  the  age,  to  tell  of  whipping  and  to  practice 
scolding.  The  principles  of  Government  in  States  &  Families 
are  changed.   The  understanding  and  the  heart  must  be  ad- 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  255 

dressed  by  persuasion  and  reason,  &  the  bayonet  and  rod  re- 
served for  the  last  emergency.  A  boy  of  18  for  all  the  purposes 
of  Government,  is  as  much  a  man  as  he  ever  will  be.  He  needs 
advice  constantly,  and  sometimes  must  be  punished  by  priva- 
tions of  the  objects  of  his  desire  or  pursuit. 

After  another  student  insurrection  in  1823,  when  Otis 
was  both  Fellow  and  Overseer,  it  became  evident  that 
something  serious  was  the  matter.  Harvard  College  had, 
in  fact,  fallen  into  a  rut,  and  was  standing  still  while  the 
world  of  learning  advanced.  It  had  become  a  paradise  for 
loafers  and  for  the  type  of  young  men  then  called  "bloods," 
now  known  as  "sports."  Instruction  was  a  matter  of 
going  through  the  motions,  the  curriculum  had  been  un- 
changed for  years,  and  no  encouragement  was  given  to 
the  serious  or  the  advanced  student.  Professor  George 
Ticknor,  fresh  from  study  at  the  great  universities  of  Ger- 
many, perceived  these  defects,  and  prescribed  remedies 
which,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  Fellows  and  Overseers, 
but  against  strong  opposition  from  the  faculty  and  con- 
servative alumni,  were  partially  carried  out  in  the  year 
1825.  ^'^  Their  adoption  was  one  of  the  most  important 
of  those  steps  by  which  Harvard  emerged  from  an  inef- 
ficient provincial  high  school,  and  became  a  university  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word. 

When  Harvard  celebrated  her  second  centennial,  on 
September  8,  1836,  Harrison  Gray  Otis  was  elected 
President  of  the  Day  by  the  alumni,  but  was  prevented 
from  exercising  this  high  function  by  the  sudden  death  of 
Mrs.  Otis.   His  life  and  character  were  made  the  subject 

1^  Life,  etc.,  of  George  Ticknor,  i,  chap,  xviii.  The  changes  effected  were, 
in  brief,  the  establishment  of  a  tribunal  of  three  for  cases  of  discipline,  the 
abolition  of  the  long  winter  vacation  in  favor  of  one  in  the  summer  (the  period 
at  which  most  of  the  "insurrections"  had  taken  place),  greater  strictness  in 
examinations,  greater  supervision  over  teachers,  and  an  entering  wedge  of  the 
lecture  and  elective  systems. 


256 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


of  a  centennial  oration  by  William  Howard  Gardiner,  of 
the  class  of  1816.  Mr.  Gardiner  ended  his  eulogy  of  the 
distinguished  old  graduate  with  the  following  toast,  than 
which  none  was  drunk  more  heartily  on  that  great  day : 

Harrison  Gray  Otis :  the  first  scholar  of  the  first  class  of  a 
neiv  nation;  the  career  of  his  life  has  been  according  to  the 
promise  of  his  youth;  he  has  touched  nothing  which  he  has  not 
adorned;  he  has  been  rewarded  with  no  oflBce,  nor  honor,  nor 
emolument,  to  which  he  was  not  richly  entitled;  and,  in  the 
dignified  retirement  of  declining  years,  he  must  always  possess, 
not  the  least  enviable,  perhaps,  of  the  blessings  which  may  ac- 
company old  age,  —  one  which  will  dwell  with  him  through 
life,  and  follow  him  beyond  the  grave,  —  the  kind  remembrance 
and  most  respectful  consideration  of  the  Alumni  of  Harvard. 


CHAPTER  XV 

CALM,    CONSPIRACY,   AND    THE  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR 
1801-1807,  ^T.  36-42 

After  the  election  of  Jefferson  came  a  brief  breathing 
space  in  American  pohtics.  The  European  truce  suspended 
the  grave  questions  of  foreign  policy  which  had  convulsed 
the  country  for  the  past  seven  years,  and  removed  the 
principal  cause  for  dissension  between  Federalists  and 
Republicans.  Jefferson  governed  with  a  moderation  that 
vexed  many  of  his  old  friends,  and  made  new  friends  in 
the  ranks  of  his  former  enemies.  Federalist  leaders  in 
vain  sounded  the  note  of  alarm  at  the  infiltration  of  "dis- 
organizing principles."  The  people  were  tired  of  politics; 
they  approved  Jefferson's  policy  of  retrenchment;  they 
saw  no  reason  for  change. 

Harrison  Gray  Otis  began  the  second  and  most  charac- 
teristic portion  of  his  political  career  at  the  beginning  of 
this  period,  in  1802,  when  he  accepted  an  election  to  the 
"Boston  Seat"  in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Represen- 
tatives. For  the  next  fifteen  years  he  was  a  member  of 
one  branch  or  the  other  of  the  General  Court,  and  during 
six  of  them  was  either  Speaker  of  the  House  or  President 
of  the  Senate.^  Throughout  these  years  Otis  was  the 
most  popular,  though  not  the  most  powerful,  leader  of  the 
Federal  party  in  Massachusetts.  The  Essex  Junto,  dis- 
trusting him  on  account  of  his  refusal  to  take  part  in  the 

^  From  1802  to  1805  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Speaker  the  last 
two  years;  from  1805  to  1813  in  the  Senate, and  its  President,  1805-06  and  1808- 
11;  again  in  the  House,  1813-14,  and  once  more  in  the  Senate,  1814-17.  The 
political  year  began  on  the  last  Wednesday  in  May. 


258 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


intrigue  of  1800  against  Adams,  never,  it  seems,  admitted 
him  to  their  secret  councils;  but  he  frequently  acted  in 
concert  with  them,  and  always  led  in  whatever  branch  of 
the  Legislature  he  happened  to  be. 

In  the  political  revolution  of  1800,  Massachusetts 
almost  slipped  through  the  fingers  of  the  Federal  party. 
Their  candidate  for  governor,  Caleb  Strong,  was  elected 
by  a  narrow  majority  in  1800,  and  Boston  went  Demo- 
cratic in  that  and  the  following  year.  Once  the  crisis 
passed,  however,  the  Federal  party  slowly  regained  con- 
trol. Governor  Strong  was  annually  reelected  by  an  ever- 
increasing  majority,  and  Boston  never  again  deserted  the 
Federal  party  as  long  as  it  existed.  This  recovery  in  1802 
should  not  be  interpreted  as  a  reaction  against  Jefferson- 
ianism,  but  as  a  popular  approval  of  a  moderate  and  ef- 
ficient administration.  Caleb  Strong,  an  honest  and  un- 
spectacular governor,  was  tolerant  in  his  Federalism,  and 
exercised  a  calming  influence  on  party  politics.  He  made 
a  laudable  effort  to  exclude  national  issues  from  state 
politics  by  frequently  reminding  the  General  Court  that 
the  national  government  alone  possessed  authority  over 
foreign  affairs. 

Under  Strong's  guidance,  the  General  Court  turned  its 
attention  chiefly  to  internal  reforms  and  to  projects  of 
commercial  development.  In  1802,  the  year  that  Otis 
reentered  state  politics,  the  penitentiary  system  was 
instituted,  and  the  application  of  capital  punishment 
restricted.  The  principal  reforms  between  1803  and  1805 
related  to  the  judiciary —  a  department  much  in  need  of 
reorganization.  Even  with  far  more  courts  and  judges 
than  were  necessary,  the  division  of  labor  between  them 
was  so  unequal,  the  circuits  so  clumsily  arranged,  the 
procedure  so  complicated,  that  the  delay  and  the  cost  of 
justice  had  become  serious  burdens.  The  first  reforming 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    259 

impulse  came  from  the  bench  itself,  which  seems  to  have 
had  a  most  creditable  conception  of  its  functions,  and  of 
the  proper  relations  between  judiciary  and  people.  Judge 
Theodore  Sedgw' ick,  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  writes 
Otis,  February  7,  1803: 

The  absolute  and  uneontrouled  independence,  of  any  branch 
of  the  judiciary,  tends  to  the  establishment  of  a  judicial  despot- 
ism; and  if  there  has  hitherto  been  no  appearance  of  it,  in  this 
state,  we  are  more  than  indebted  to  the  peculiar  mildness  of 
temper,  and  politeness  of  manners  of  the  gentlemen  who  com- 
posed the  courts,  than  to  the  wisdom  of  the  system. 

In  another  letter  to  Otis,  he  calls  the  Massachusetts 
judiciary  "the  most  barbarous  and  absurd  that  was  ever 
endured  by  a  enlightened  people."  Evidently  the  judges 
of  that  day  were  under  no  illusions  as  to  the  inviolability 
of  their  privileges  and  functions.^ 

Although  the  Massachusetts  Bar  as  a  whole  opposed 
any  change  in  a  system  so  profitable  to  it,  Otis  gave  the 
exponents  of  reform  all  possible  aid.  The  existing  corres- 
pondence between  him  and  Judge  Sedgwick  suggests 
that  they  two  were  in  a  large  degree  responsible  for  what- 
ever was  effected  in  that  direction.  A  beginning  was  made 
in  1803,  by  depriving  the  county  courts  of  session,  com- 
posed of  justices  of  the  peace,  of  criminal  jurisdiction. 
The  ideas  of  Otis  and  the  judges  themselves  were  then 
substantially  adopted  in  two  acts,  of  February  29,  1804, 
and  of  March  15,  1805,  in  which  nisi  prius  sessions  of  one 
or  more  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  established,  in 

^  Theophilus  Parsons,  Jr.,  wrote  of  his  father,  the  Chief  Justice:  "I  belie^'e 
there  was  nothing  which  my  father  more  desired  than  that  the  people  should 
cultivate  in  themselves  a  kind  and  respectful,  but  watchful  jealousy  of  the 
judicial  department;  and  should  feel  a  deep  and  sincere,  and  yet  a  rational 
respect  for  it,  founded  upon  a  just  understanding  of  the  vast  importance  of  its 
functions."     Life  of  Parsons,  199. 


260 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


addition  to  the  regular  sessions  of  three  or  more.  One 
judge  alone  could  exercise  jurisdiction  over  all  questions 
"whereof  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  hath  hitherto  had 
cognizance,"  excepting  capital  offenses,  divorce,  and  ali- 
mony. Regular  circuits  were  rearranged,  in  order  to  expe- 
dite matters;  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  was  reduced 
from  six  to  five  members,  and  the  judges  for  the  first  time 
were  given  a  fixed  compensation  instead  of  annual  grants. 
Theophilus  Parsons,  who  was  appointed  to  the  vacant 
chief-justiceship  in  180G,  proved  most  efiicient  in  enforc- 
ing the  spirit  of  reform. 

Legislative  action  was  necessary,  also,  to  improve  the 
banking  facilities  of  Boston,  which  the  expansion  of  com- 
merce, in  these  years  of  peace,  had  rendered  inadequate. 
John  Quincy  Adams  records  in  his  diary  a  project  of 
special  interest  to  Otis,  the  Boston  Bank,  which  he  desired 
to  get  through  the  Senate  as  quietly  as  possible.  The  bill 
provided  that  no  one  could  own  more  than  fifty  shares  of 
stock,  except  the  original  proprietors,  "about  twenty 
gentlemen,"  including  Otis,  who  could  own  up  to  two 
thousand  shares  apiece.  Otis  did  not  wish  to  have  the 
subscription  paper  made  public,  and  to  have  his  name 
"bandied  about"  the  legislature.  John  Quincy  Adams, 
who  already  looked  on  Otis  with  the  suspicion  of  one 
temperamentally  his  opposite,  had  heard  rumors  that 
certain  shares  were  set  aside  for  the  purpose  of  corrupting 
the  legislature,  and  refused  to  give  the  bill  his  support.  It 
finally  passed,  without  the  neat  provision  for  keeping  the 
control  in  the  hands  of  the  original  proprietors,  and  with 
a  considerable  part  of  its  capital  subscribed  for  by  the 
Commonwealth.  Several  other  banking  schemes  became 
issues  in  local  politics  at  this  time;  and  throughout  the 
period  of  Federalist  rule  in  Massachusetts  the  connection 
between  the  banking  interests  and  the  Federal  party  was 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    261 

close. ^    Otis'  name  frequently  appeared  on  boards  of 
directors. 

"The  federalists  must  entrench  themselves  in  the  State 
governments,  and  endeavour  to  make  State  justice  and 
State  power  a  shelter  of  the  wise,  and  good,  and  rich,  from 
the  wild  destroying  rage  of  the  southern  Jacobins."  So 
wrote  Fisher  Ames,  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1802,^ 
only  three  years  after  he  and  his  party  had  denounced 
as  unconstitutional  the  attempt  of  the  Virginia  and  Ken- 
tucky Democrats  similarly  to  protect  themselves  against 
the  Sedition  Act.  In  these  words  Ames  struck  the  key- 
note of  the  policy  followed  for  the  next  twelve  years  by 
his  native  state. 

The  Louisiana  Purchase  of  1803  gave  the  signal  for  a 
renewal  of  the  old  party  bitterness,  and  caused  the  "wise, 
and  good,  and  rich"  of  Massachusetts  to  take  their  first 
definite  step  away  from  nationalism.  News  of  the  cession 
of  Louisiana  reached  America  late  in  June,  1803.  By  the 
Republican  newspapers  of  New  England  it  was  received 
as  "glorious  intelligence";  by  the  Federalist  press,  coldly 
and  without  comment.  Although  nothing  emanating  from 
a  Jeffersonian  administration  could  expect  Federalist 
praise  until  subjected  to  the  most  rigid  and  critical  scru- 
tiny, still  there  must  have  been  some  diflSculty  at  first  in 
finding  fault  with  an  act  which  thwarted  the  steady 
policy  of  France  from  1793  to  1802,  and  which  carried 
out  to  its  logical  conclusion  the  Federalist  policy  of  1797. 

'  This  is  a  subject  that  merits  a  thorough  investigation.  One  frequently 
6nds  complaints  in  Democratic  newspapers  that  Democrats  were  discriminated 
against  by  the  Boston  banks.  In  1795,  Otis's  election  to  the  General  Court 
was  advocated  in  the  Centinel  on  the  ground  that  he  was  a  friend  to  the  Union 
Bank.  In  1803,  the  advocates  for  a  new  banking  scheme  founded  a  party  of 
their  own,  called  the  "Middling  Interest,"  which  was  courted  by  both  Federal- 
ists and  Republicans. 

*  Works,  I,  310. 


262  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Jefferson  had  acquired  peacefully  what  Hamilton  and 
Otis  had  dreamt  of  securing  through  war  with  France  and 
alliance  with  England.  There  were,  however,  just  grounds 
for  criticism  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  It  was  by  no 
means  certain  that  we  had  not  paid  fifteen  million  dollars 
for  a  revocable  permission  from  Bonaparte  to  hold  Louisi- 
ana against  all  comers,  if  we  had  the  strength.  The  colony 
had  been  ceded  by  Spain  to  France  in  1800,  but  the  trans- 
fer had  not  yet  taken  place.  France  had  never  paid  for  the 
territory,  and  its  cession  was  contrary  both  to  the  treaty 
obligations  and  to  the  constitution  of  France.  The  bound- 
aries on  the  east  and  on  the  west  were  indefinite.  The 
position,  then,  that  we  had  been  cheated  at  the  bargain 
was  far  from  untenable  in  1804, 

The  real  cause  of  Federalist  opposition  to  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  lay  far  deeper  than  flaws  in  the  title;  it  was 
based  on  the  realization  that  the  acquisition  of  this  vast 
territory  threatened  the  economic  and  political  interests 
of  the  Federal  party.  It  would  lower  the  value  of  Eastern 
lands,  in  which  Otis  and  many  other  Federalist  leaders 
were  interested.  ^  It  would  bolster  up  Jeffersonian  Democ- 
racy to  the  westward,  and  keep  Federalism  in  a  perpetual 
minority.  The  Eastern  leaders^  were  already  conscious 
of  the  lack  of  expansive  force  in  their  party,  which  by 
1804  existed  only  as  a  sickly  exotic  in  the  West.  Ohio,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  a  considerable  element  of  her  popu- 
lation was  from  New  England,  had  just  entered  the 
Union  with  a  constitution  embodying  the  most  advanced 

^  "The  men  naturally  destined  to  populate  the  District  of  Maine,  the  vacant 
lands  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont  will  be  enticed  to  the  new  paradise  of 
Louisiana  ..."  —  A  Defence  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  or  the  Rights  of 
Newcngland  Vindicated  (1804),  p.  13. 

^  Southern,  as  well  as  New  England  Federalists  were  strongly  opposed  to 
the  Louisiana  Purchase,  but,  not  having  control  of  their  state  legislatures,  they 
were  not  able  to  express  their  objections  so  efifectively.  See  John  Rutledge's 
letter  of  October  1,  1803,  at  end  of  chapter. 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    263 

ideas  of  Democracy,  and  looked  to  Virginia,  not  to 
Massachusetts,  for  leadership.  It  was  practically  certain 
that  the  new  states  to  be  formed  from  Louisiana  would 
manifest  the  same  spirit.  "Virginia  will  soon  become  the 
Austria  of  America,"  wrote  a  Federalist  pamphleteer.^ 

Future  prospects  for  the  New  England  Federalists, 
with  their  peculiar  economic  interests,  were  rendered  the 
more  alarming  by  the  expectation  that  the  new  trans- 
Mississippi  states  would  be  slave-holding,  and  send  Rep- 
resentatives to  Washington  according  to  the  federal  ratio. 
The  constitutional  provision  by  which  Representatives 
and  presidential  electors  were  allotted  to  the  states  in 
proportion  to  the  free  population  plus  three  fifths  of  "all 
other  persons,"  had  long  been  a  rankling  sore  to  New 
England  Federalists.  It  gave  Virginia,  a  state  with  a  free 
population  slightly  less  than  that  of  Massachusetts,  five 
more  Representatives  and  electoral  votes ;  it  alone  secured 
the  election  of  Jefferson  in  1800.  Hence  arose  the  proposi- 
tion to  abolish  by  constitutional  amendment  the  slave 
representation.  An  amendment  to  this  effect  was  intro- 
duced in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives 
by  William  Ely  of  Springfield,  and  passed  June  20,  1804, 
by  a  strict  party  vote.  Otis  was  then  Speaker  of  the 
House,  and  no  doubt  gave  the  amendment  his  full  ap- 
proval. The  resolution,  commenting  upon  the  unjust  and 
injurious  provision  in  the  Constitution  by  which  "a  plan- 
ter with  fifty  slaves  has  thirty  votes,"  states  that  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  makes  these  provisions  more  in- 
jurious, and  "  will  contribute  ...  to  destroy  the  real 
influence  of  the  Eastern  states  in  the  National  Govern- 
ment," and  whereas,  a  Union  of  the  States 
cannot  harmoniously  exist,  for  a  long  period,  unless  it  be 

^  Defense  of  the  Legislature  of  Mass.,  14.  Cf .  H.  C.  Hockett,  "  Federalism  and 
the  West "  {Turner  Essays,  no.  v.). 


264 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


founded  in  principles  which  shall  secure  to  all  Free  Citizens^ 
equal  political  rights  and  privileges  in  the  government,  so 
that  a  minority  of  Free  Citizens  may  not  govern  a  majority, 
an  event  which,  on  the  principles  of  representation  now  es- 
tablished has  already  happened,  and  may  always  happen. 
Therefore,  to  preserve  the  Union  of  the  States  upon  sound  and 
just  principles,  and  to  establish  a  foundation  for  general  har- 
mony, and  confidence  among  all  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  by  securing  to  them  now,  and  at  all  future  periods,  equal 
political  rights  and  privileges, 

Resolved,  that  representatives  and  direct  taxes  be  hence- 
forth apportioned  on  the  basis  of  free  population  only. 

With  this  language  of  menace  to  the  Union,  suggestive 
of  the  tone  in  which  the  South,  at  a  later  period,  was 
accustomed  to  demand  extensions  of  slavery,  Massachu- 
setts entered  the  road  of  sectionalism  that  she  followed  for 
the  next  ten  years .  Striking,  as  it  did ,  at  one  of  the ' '  sacred 
compromises"  of  the  Constitution,  Ely's  amendment  was 
about  as  reasonable  as  would  have  been  a  proposition  of 
Virginia  to  deprive  the  smaller  states  of  their  equality  in 
the  Senate.  Massachusetts  was  very  properly  rebuked  by 
the  rejection  of  the  amendment  by  every  state  in  the 
Union,  with  the  exception  of  Connecticut  and  Delaware, 
which  took  no  action ;  but  her  leaders,  not  abandoning  all 
hope,  revived  a  similar  proposition  in  the  Report  of  the 
Hartford  Convention. 

While  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  was  contem- 
plating this  initial  step  in  sectionalism,  the  extremist 
leaders  of  the  Federal  party,  boldly  spanning  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  state  rights,  were  secretly  planning  for  New 
England  the  final  resort  of  oppressed  sectional  minorities 
—  secession  from  the  Union.  The  conspiracy  ^  originated 

^  The  sources  for  this  episode  are  the  correspondence  in  the  Pickering  MSS. 
(printed,  together  with  the  pamphlets  of  the  later  Otis- Adams  controversy,  in 
Henry  Adams,  Documents  relating  to  New  England  Federalism);  extracts  from 
letters  and  memoranda  of  William  Plumer  in  his  Life,  by  William  Plumer,  Jr., 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    265 

with  the  extreme  New  England  Federalists  in  Congress, 
of  whom  Timothy  Pickering,  Uriah  Tracy,  and  Roger 
Griswold  were  the  leaders.  These  —  and  the  same  might 
be  said  of  the  Essex  Junto,  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  the 
leading  Connecticut  Federalists  —  were  men  of  one  idea 
and  one  object:  to  suppress  democracy.  Their  political 
theories  were  founded  on  the  fallacy  that  the  masses  in 
America  had  the  same  passions  as  the  Paris  mob.  Democ- 
racy to  them  meant  atheism,  destruction  of  property,  and 
mob  rule.  "The  principles  of  democracy  are  everywhere 
what  they  have  been  in  France,"  wrote  Fisher  Ames  in 
1803.  "The  fire  of  revolution  .  .  .  when  once  kindled, 
would  burrow  deep  into  the  soil,  search  out  and  consume 
the  roots,  and  leave,  after  one  crop,  a  caput  mortuum,  black 
and  barren,  for  ages.  .  .  .  Our  country  is  too  big  for  union, 
too  sordid  for  patriotism,  too  democratic  for  liberty." 
Looking  on  current  events  from  this  standpoint,  radical 
Federalists  saw  in  Jefferson's  attacks  on  the  judiciary, 
his  removals  in  the  civil  service,  the  adoption  of  the 
Twelfth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  and  the  an- 
nexation of  Louisiana,  a  prelude  to  universal  chaos.  "My 
life  is  not  worth  much,"  wrote  Pickering,  "but  if  it  must 
be  offered  up,  let  it  be  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  more 
stable  government,  under  which  my  children,  at  least, 
may  enjoy  freedom  with  security." 

The  South,  they  observed,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the 
Middle  States,  were  already  violated  by  democracy;  New 
England  was  yet  chaste  —  but  every  day  Pickering  and 
men  of  like  mind  saw  new  barriers  to  her  virtue  pros- 
trated. "And  must  we  with  folded  hands  wait  the  result? 
.  .  .  The  principles  of  our  Resolution  point  to  the  remedy 

chap.  VII ;  and  correspondence  of  Rufus  King  in  King,  iii,  chap.  xxii.  Henry 
Adams's  description  of  the  plot  in  his  United  States,  ii,  chap,  viii,  is  a  master- 
piece of  historical  writing. 


366 


H.\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


I 


—  a  separation."  In  their  minds  arose  the  picture  of 
"a  new  confederacy,  exempt  from  the  corrupt  and  cor- 
rupting influence  and  oppression  of  the  aristocratic  Dem- 
ocrats of  the  South,"  a  confederacy  with  New  England  as 
its  nucleus,  the  British  provinces  as  free  willing  adherents, 
and  New  York,  to  be  brought  in  by  the  influence  of  Aaron 
Burr,  as  a  western  barrier  against  Virginia,  the  source  of 
corruption.  Much  as  her  leaders  wished  the  South  to 
secede  in  1861,  in  order  to  exclude  the  poison  of  abolition, 
Pickering  and  his  friends  wished  New  England  to  secede 
in  1804,  in  order  to  exclude  the  poison  of  democracy  — 
each  assuming  that  a  frontier  line  could  stop  a  world 
force. 

This  wild  and  visionary  scheme  was  cautiously  broached 
by  its  authors  to  the  Essex  Junto  in  Massachusetts,  and 
to  the  Federalist  leaders  in  Connecticut  and  New  Y'ork. 
Ames,  Cabot,  Parsons,  and  Higginson  all  replied  that 
secession,  although  desirable,  was  impossible  —  there  was 
no  public  sentiment  to  support  it.  The  people  were  alto- 
gether too  contented  and  prosperous;  only  the  "wise  and 
good"  could  perceive  danger  to  society  and  property  in 
the  annexation  of  Louisiana.  "We  should  be  put  in  the 
background,"  wrote  Higginson,  "were  we  to  make  that 
question  the  subject  of  free  conversation."  In  Connecti- 
cut, the  leaders  of  Church  and  State  regarded  the  scheme 
more  favorably,  and  in  New  York  the  plot  found  a  leader 
in  the  person  of  "The  Catiline  of  America,"  Aaron  Burr. 
His  candidacy  for  the  governorship  of  New  York  was  sup- 
ported by  Griswold  and  Pickering,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  if  he  won,  he  should  lead  the  new  secession  move- 
ment. Burr's  defeat  at  the  polls  ended  all  chance  of  even 
setting  the  plot  in  motion.  Hamilton  had  already  ex- 
pressed his  disapproval  of  the  conspiracy,  and  done  his 
best  to  effect  Burr's  defeat.  The  latter's  demand  for  an 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    267 

explanation,  Hamilton's  defiance,  and  the  fatal  duel  fol- 
lowed in  swift  succession.  On  July  11,  1804,  Alexander 
Hamilton  paid  the  penalty,  on  the  duelling-grounds  of 
Weehawken,  for  having  stood  between  Aaron  Burr  and 
the  presidency  of  a  Northern  Confederacy. 

With  this  dramatic  ending,  the  disunion  conspiracy  of 
1804,  the  first  serious  plot  against  the  integrity  of  the 
Union,^  dissolved.  It  never  had  the  remotest  chance  of 
success,  and  the  fact  that  Pickering,  Tracy,  and  Griswold 
could  seriously  desire  it  and  seriously  believe  it  practi- 
cable, and  above  all  intrigue  with  Aaron  Burr  to  carry 
it  out,  shows  how  thoroughly  devoid  they  were  of  polit- 
ical morality,  how  completely  out  of  touch  with  public 
opinion,  how  absolutely  incompetent  to  govern  the 
United  States. 

Our  chief  concern  in  this  ajffair  is  to  find  out  whether 
Harrison  Gray  Otis  had  any  part  in  it.  Otis,  as  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  leading  state  of 
New  England,  was  the  first  leader  outside  the  Essex  Junto 
to  whom  the  conspirators  would  naturally  turn.  John 
Quincy  Adams  believed  that  they  had  enlisted  him.  In 
the  course  of  the  presidential  campaign  of  1828,  in  which 

^  As  all  students  of  United  States  history  know,  secession,  even  in  1804,  was 
no  new  and  unheard-of  remedy  for  oppressed  sectional  minorities.  It  was  seri- 
ously urged  by  Rufus  King  iu  1794,  by  Connecticut  leaders  in  1796,  if  JefiFerson 
were  elected;  by  John  Taylor  of  Caroline  in  1798.  It  was  constantly  threatened 
in  the  West,  from  1784  to  1803,  if  the  federal  government  should  not  prevent 
the  closure  of  the  Mississippi;  frequently  threatened  in  the  South,  between  1795 
and  1799,  in  the  event  of  a  war  with  France.  So  far  both  parties,  and  all  sec- 
tions had  been  equal  offenders,  and  were  likewise  in  the  period  1804-1860,  as 
Mr.  H.  V.  Ames's  admirable  collection  of  State  Documents  on  Federal  Relations 
testifies.  Most  political  thinkers  of  the  first  half-century  of  constitutional  gov- 
ernment had  very  little  faith  in  the  duration  of  the  Union,  and  the  statement, 
that  such-and-such  a  measure  would  "inevitably  produce  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,"  was  a  familiar  figure  of  speech  in  politics.  The  conspiracy  of  1804  was, 
so  far  as  is  known,  the  first  actual  attempt  to  carry  secession  into  effect;  but  it 
may  well  be  that  others  fully  as  serious  previously  existed,  but  have  never  seen 
the  light. 


268  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

he  v/as  a  candidate,  Adams  published  a  statement  to  the 
effect  that  the  object  of  the  Federahst  leaders  "was  [in 
1808],  and  had  been  for  several  years,  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union."  He  was  promptly  called  to  account  by  Harrison 
Gray  Otis  and  twelve  other  survivors  of  the  Federal 
party.  They  challenged  him  to  publish  the  evidence  of 
such  a  design,  and  to  name  the  leaders.  Adams  replied 
shortly,  citing  the  main  facts  of  the  1804  disunion  scheme 
correctly,  but  refusing  to  give  any  names.  This  was  the 
first  time  that  the  plot  had  been  made  public.  Otis  and 
his  twelve  "compurgators,"  as  Adams  called  them,  then 
published  an  "  Appeal  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States," 
—  composed  in  all  probability  by  Otis,  —  in  which  they 
"solemnly  disavow  all  knowledge  of  such  a  project,  and 
all  remembrance  of  the  mention  of  it,  or  of  any  plan 
analogous  to  it,  at  that  or  any  subsequent  period."  They 
further  stated  their  belief  that  no  such  plan  existed. 

Otis,  then,  clearly  and  unequivocally  stated  in  1829 
that  he  had  not  so  much  as  heard  of  the  1804  plot  until 
1828.  His  statement  was  undoubtedly  correct.^"  Adams 
himself,  in  the  lengthy  reply  which  he  prepared  to  the 
"Appeal,"  acknowledges  that  the  1804  project  was  "in 
its  nature  secret,"  and  admits  "Mr,  Otis  is  not  one  of 
those  whom  I  ever  heard  or  believed  to  have  been  engaged 
in  the  project  of  1804."  Pickering's  correspondence  shows 
that  the  plan  was  never  communicated  to  any  one  in 
Massachusetts  outside  the  exclusive  circle  of  the  Junto  — 

^^  Mr.  McMaster  assumes,  I  think  without  foundation,  that  the  Ely  amend- 
ment was  a  corollary  to  the  disunion  scheme.  {United  States,  iii,  47.)  He  points 
out  (p.  51)  three  toasts  at  the  Christopher  Gore  dinner  of  April  27,  ISO-i,  as 
indicating  a  general  knowledge  of  the  plot  among  Federalists.  Of  these  the 
only  one  which  seems  to  contain  a  disunion  sentiment  was  "May  the  dominion 
of  Virginia  be  limited  by  the  Constitution,  or  at  least  by  the  Delaware,"  and 
these  words  may  have  been  intended  simply  to  express  a  wish  that  the  Federal 
party  should  retain  control  of  the  state  governments  in  that  region.  There  is  no 
doubt,  however,  that  secession  sentiment  existed  in  Federalist  circles  that  were 
ignorant  of  any  settled  plan  with  that  end  in  view. 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    269 

Adams  only  learned  of  it  by  accident.  To  Otis  and 
his  twelve  fellow  signers,  in  1828,  the  announcement 
that  such  a  plot  existed  was  a  complete  surprise,  and 
their  disbelief  in  the  story,  under  the  circumstances,  was 
natural." 

Harrison  Gray  Otis,  then,  had  no  connection  with  the 
1804  project  of  a  Northern  Confederacy.  But  one  ques- 
tion remains  to  be  answered.  Was  this  plot  of  1804  an 
isolated  affair,  ending  with  the  defeat  of  Burr  and  the 
death  of  Hamilton,  or  was  it,  as  John  Quincy  Adams  be- 
lieved, the  alpha  to  a  carefully  laid  scheme  of  disunion,  to 
which  the  Hartford  Convention  was  intended  to  be  the 
omega.'*  The  mere  existence,  he  considered,  of  a  disunion 
plot  in  1804  was  sufficient  evidence  that  disunion  was  the 
object  of  the  sectional  movements  in  New  England  from 
1808  to  1815.^-  That  reasoning  does  not  commend  itself 
to  the  interests  of  historical  accuracy.  The  secession 
movement  of  1804  was  a  select  conspiracy,  confined  to  a 
handful  of  extremist  leaders;  the  movements  of  1808  and 
1814  were  entered  into  by  the  entire  Federal  party  in  New 

^1  William  Plumer,  one  of  the  conspirators  of  1804,  and  later  an  apostate  to 
Federalism,  supported  Adams's  statement  in  a  letter  which  was  published  early 
in  1829.  {Life  of  William  Plumer,  290.)  The  truth  of  his  statements  was  im- 
pugned by  a  number  of  the  1804  Connecticut  members  of  Congress,  who  had 
not  been  let  into  the  secret  {N.E.  Federalism,  no.  ix),  and  Otis  therefore  con- 
sidered them  false.  See  his  letter  of  March  5,  1829,  to  Judge  Hopkinson,  in 
appendix  to  chapter  xxxi.  Timothy  Pickering,  the  other  surs'iving  conspirator, 
kept  a  complete  silence  during  the  controversy.  The  existence  of  the  1804  plot 
was  not  established  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  until  1857,  when  part  of 
William  Plumer's  correspondence  of  1804  was  published  in  his  Life,  by  William 
Plumer,  Jr. 

12  Mr.  Henry  Adams  assumes  (United  States,  vm,  225),  that  a  New  England 
convention,  similar  to  that  of  1814,  formed  part  of  the  plans  of  1804.  But 
William  Plumer  distinctly  states  that  the  plot  was  to  be  carried  out  by  indi- 
vidual secessions  of  states,  beginning  with  Massachusetts.  (Life  of  Plumer,  291, 
295-96.)  In  none  of  the  correspondence  of  that  year  is  there  any  mention  of  an 
interstate  convention.  DeBnite  measures  were  to  have  been  decided  upon  at 
a  meeting  of  leaders  in  Boston,  which,  owing  to  Hamilton's  death,  never  took 
place. 


270 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


England,  and  their  object  was  not  disunion,  but,  in  the 
one  ease,  rehef  from  the  embargo,  and  in  the  other,  peace 
and  protection  to  New  England  interests.  Pickering,  in- 
deed, attempted  to  steer  the  Hartford  Convention  into  a 
disunion  course,  but  failed.  The  conspiracy  of  1804  was 
an  isolated  affair,  the  real  significance  of  which  is  personal 
—  the  example  it  offers  of  the  manner  in  which  poli- 
tical Jesuits  throw  aside  every  scruple  to  attain  their 
ends. 

The  subsequent  course  of  events  in  Massachusetts 
showed  how  visionary  was  the  idea  of  stirring  up  disloy- 
alty to  the  Union  in  that  state.  The  Federal  party  made 
the  iniquity  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  its  leading  issue 
in  the  elections  of  1804,  but  the  people  were  obstinate 
enough  to  regard  it  as  a  national  triumph  in  which  they 
shared.  The  Democratic  vote  for  governor  increased 
seventy-five  per  cent;  not  quite  sufiicient,  however,  to  eat 
away  the  heavy  Federalist  majorities  of  1803.  When  the 
presidential  election  approached,  the  General  Court 
dared  not  repeat  its  unpopular  strategy  of  1800,  and 
retain  the  choice  of  presidential  electors  in  its  own 
hands.  Trusting,  however,  that  the  slight  Federalist 
majority  in  the  spring  elections  would  still  remain,  it  did 
the  next  best  thing,  and  provided  for  the  choice  of  electors 
by  a  general  ticket.  This  "squeamishness,"  as  the  Centi- 
nel  called  it,  resulted,  to  the  Federalists'  profound  aston- 
ishment, in  the  victory  of  the  Jeflersonian  ticket  by  a 
substantial  majority.  For  the  first  and  the  last  time  Mas- 
sachusetts voted  for  a  President  opposed  to  the  Federal 
party.  Connecticut  and  Delaware  alone  remained  faith- 
ful to  Federalism;  Jefferson  was  reelected  President  by 
162  votes  out  of  176.  The  Democrats  had  good  reason  to 
believe  that  Federalism  was  in  its  death-throes.  Accord- 
ing to  The  Hamiltoniad,  — 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    271 

Boston,  that  royal  hot-bed  of  the  States, 
Now  sinks  in  grief  —  now  menaces  the  Fates : 
Ot-s,  mellifluous  Ot-s,  cannot  please: 
His  silver  accents  only  charm  the  Breeze. 

During  the  next  two  years,  a  progressive  increase  in 
violence  was  evident  in  the  Massachusetts  state  elections. 
The  Federalists  fought  to  retain  their  power  with  all  the 
desperation  of  a  dying  cause,  and  the  Democrats  were 
stimulated  to  attain  a  goal  that  each  election  seemed  to 
bring  nearer,  but  to  keep  just  out  of  reach.  Torrents  of 
pamphlets  rained  from  party  headquarters,  and  the  past 
records  of  both  gubernatorial  candidates  were  raked  with 
a  fine  comb  to  discover  incidents  to  their  discredit.  In 
1806,  the  Democrats  finally  secured  a  majority  in  the 
General  Court.  Otis  wrote  on  May  20,  in  a  tone  of  bitter 
jocularity,  to  his  old  friend  Robert  Goodloe  Harper: 

I  believe  at  length  c'est  une  affaire  finie  with  Massachusetts. 
The  old  Governor  is  elected,  but  a  systematic  plan  has  been 
adopted  by  the  democratic  towns  to  fill  the  legislature  with  their 
complement  of  members.  Our  H.  of  R.  will  therefore  literally 
be  a  council  of  500,  and  you  may  expect  to  see  us  disgraced  by  a 
fulsome  address  to  the  weakest  of  possible  administrations.  If 
Bonaparte  had  time  to  examine  our  affairs  with  minute  atten- 
tion, he  would  think  we  were  making  too  much  haste;  we  shall 
be  ready  for  him  before  he  has  leisure  to  take  us  under  his  pro- 
tection. Would  your  Baltimorians  vote  for  Prince  Jerome?  I 
think  however  we  cannot  expect  to  share  the  honors  of  the 
first  line  of  Princes.  There  is  not  enough  of  them  to  distribute 
among  the  fallen  &  falling  powers  of  Europe.  A  few  years  will 
produce  a  new  mongrel  breed  from  the  German  and  Italian  alli- 
ances, either  of  wives  or  mistresses  and  a  few  years  maj'  prob- 
ably fit  America  for  the  sway  of  any  abortion  which  it  may  be 
convenient  to  transport.  Till  when  God  bless  you.^^ 

Otis,  who  was  defeated  for  the  presidency  of  the  Senate 
that  year  by  a  majority  of  one,  was,  however,  instrumental 

"  Harper  MSS. 


272  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

in  preserving  the  governorship  for  his  party.  Returns  for 
governor  were  exceedingly  close.  Caleb  Strong  had,  ac- 
cording to  Federalist  calculations,  only  176  votes  over  a 
bare  majority  of  the  total  vote,  which  at  that  time  was 
necessary  for  a  choice.  The  opportunity  to  defeat  him  by 
manipulating  the  returns  was  too  good  to  be  lost.  The 
returns  were  referred  for  an  official  count  to  a  joint  com- 
mittee of  the  General  Court,  composed  of  five  Democrats 
and  two  Federalists,  which  proceeded  to  apply  a  set  of 
rules  to  fit  the  object  in  view.  It  was  found  that  Gov- 
ernor Strong's  name  was  misspelled  in  the  returns  of 
two  towns,  that  of  Sullivan  in  thirty-one.  The  committee 
adopted  the  rule  that  where  the  spelling  conformed  to  the 
sound  of  the  name,  the  votes  should  stand,  but  not  other- 
wise. As  the  two  Strong  towns  spelt  his  name  Stron  and 
Srong,  they  were  thrown  out,  while  most  of  the  Sullivan 
votes  were  spelled  Suliva?i  or  Sullivon,  and  were  therefore 
retained.  All  rejected  votes  were  counted  into  the  total,  in 
order  to  keep  the  legal  majority,  which  Strong  must  sur- 
pass, as  high  as  possible.  After  deciding  every  disputed 
point  in  Sullivan's  favor,  the  committee  reported  that 
Strong  lacked  14  votes  of  a  majority.  The  Democrats, 
however,  did  not  dare  to  pull  through  so  barefaced  a  poli- 
tical steal.  A  minority  report  of  the  Senate,  signed  by 
Otis  and  his  eighteen  Federalist  colleagues,  punctured  the 
committee's  report  through  and  through,  and  gave  the 
cue  to  public  opinion,  which  forced  the  Democrats  to  re- 
cede. The  House  was  enabled  to  back  down  with  grace 
through  the  "  discovery  "  of  a  new  technicality  in  the  re- 
turns of  a  Democratic  town,  which  being  rejected,  gave 
Caleb  Strong  a  majority  of  40  votes.  He  was  then  de- 
clared elected.  ^^ 

^*  These  facts  are  taken  from  Edward  Stanwood,  "The  Mass.  Election  in 
1806,"  {Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  2d  ser.,  xx,  12),  and  the  Senate  minority  pro- 
test, a  manuscript  copy  of  which  in  the  Otis  MSS.  suggests  Otis's  authorship. 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    273 

In  the  following  year,  1807,  the  Democrats  finally  se- 
cured control  of  every  branch  of  the  state  government. 
All  signs  pointed  to  the  coming  disappearance  of  the  Fed- 
eral party.  Vermont  succumbed  the  same  year;  New 
Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island  had  already  yielded;  in  all 
the  United  States  only  hide-bound  Connecticut  resisted 
the  advance  of  Jeffersonian  Democracy.  Had  the  Euro- 
pean peace  endured,  or  had  Thomas  Jefferson  been  able  to 
cope  successfully  with  a  condition  of  European  war,  the 
Federal  party  would  in  all  probability  have  died  out  for 
want  of  an  issue,  and  the  "  era  of  good  feelings  "  been 
anticipated  by  ten  years.  But  the  gods  willed  it  that 
no  permanent  peace  could  be  made  between  England 
and  France,  or  between  Federalists  and  Republicans  in 
America,  until  Napoleon  should  conquer  the  British 
Isles,  or  be  driven  into  exile. 

In  1804,  Europe  resolved  itself  for  the  third  time  into 
two  great  coalitions  around  England  and  France  as  nuclei, 
and  Federalists  and  Republicans  resumed  their  old  posi- 
tions on  the  outer  edges  of  the  warring  circles.  All  ques- 
tions not  relating  to  foreign  affairs  again  sink  out  of  sight, 
and  as  Harper  wrote  Otis,  "  The  affairs  of  our  own  coun- 
try make  a  sort  of  underplot,  which  engages  the  atten- 
tion only  because  it  is  near,  and  in  which  the  misera- 
ble actors,  .  .  .  excite  no  other  emotions  than  those  of 
pity  and  contempt." ^^  Throughout  the  long  struggle 
that  ended  with  Waterloo,  the  Federalists  continued  to 
regard  England  as  the  "  advanced  guard  of  our  country," 
the  exponent  of  rational  liberty  and  well-ordered  gov- 
enrment ;  but  the  Republican  party  consistently  defended 
the  cause  of  Napoleon,  while  he  crushed  out  republican- 
ism and  liberty  in  one  country  after  another. 

Nine  months  after  Jefferson's  second  inauguration, 

^^^  Letters  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


274  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

England,  through  Trafalgar,  became  mistress  of  the  seas 
and  Napoleon,  through  Austerlitz,  master  of  the  Conti- 
nent. A  deadlock  was  closed  between  the  two  belliger- 
ents, from  which  either  could  escape  only  by  prostrating 
the  commerce  and  exhausting  the  resources  of  the  other. 
As  in  the  first  half  of  the  European  struggle,  each  belliger- 
ent conceived  it  necessary,  in  carrying  out  this  starvation 
policy,  to  prevent  neutral  commerce  from  trading  with 
the  other  nation;  and  the  era  of  spoliations,  captures,  and 
judicial  confiscation  of  American  vessels  recommenced. 
The  situation  was  difficult  for  Jefferson  to  meet.  Wash- 
ington and  Adams  had  been  confronted  by  a  similar  prob- 
lem, but  generally  in  relation  to  one  nation  at  a  time. 
But  from  1807  on,  both  England  and  Napoleon  seemed  to 
vie  with  one  another  in  visiting  destruction  on  American 
commerce  and  insult  on  the  xAmerican  people.  With  the 
American  public  irrevocably  divided  in  favor  of  ^England 
and  France,  the  situation  was  one  from  which  only  an 
opportunist  statesman  of  the  very  highest  order,  a  Crom- 
well or  a  Cavour,  could  have  drawn  success  —  and  Jeffer- 
son was  not  an  opportunist,  but  a  theorist. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  the  war,  the  aggressions 
on  America  came  almost  exclusively  from  Great  Britain. 
In  1804,  the  British  navy  renewed  its  practice  of  impress- 
ing British  subjects  from  American  merchant  vessels, 
even  within  the  harbor  of  New  York.  The  following  year, 
Sir  William  Scott,  in  the  case  of  the  American  vessel  Essex, 
handed  down  a  decision  in  which  he  announced  the  prin- 
ciple of  "continuous  voyages"  —  that  the  carrying  of  a 
cargo  from  the  French  W^est  Indies  to  the  United  States, 
there  transshipping  it  and  proceeding  to  France,  was  in 
effect  a  continuous  voyage  between  the  French  colonies 
and  France,  and  as  such,  contrary  to  the  Rule  of  1756. 
This  decision  cut  deep  into  a  lucrative  branch  of  the 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    275 

American  carrying  trade.  The  wise  and  good  of  the  Essex 
Junto,  whose  interests  were  deeply  affected,  were  neverthe- 
less willing  to  acquiesce,  preferring  to  swallow  humbly 
such  crumbs  of  trade  as  England  might  graciously  permit 
to  fall  from  her  table,  rather  than  embarrass  her  in  her 
struggle  with  Bonaparte,  or  give  Jefferson  the  least  cause 
for  interference.  But  the  Federal  party  as  a  whole  was 
not  yet  ready  to  accept  this  attitude,  and  in  Boston,  as  in 
other  seaport  cities,  a  meeting  of  Federalist  merchants 
drew  up  a  strong  memorial  to  the  President,  denouncing 
the  principles  of  the  Essex  decision  as  "unsound  in  prin- 
ciple, offensive  in  practice,  and  nugatory  in  effect,"  and 
praying  for  measures  to  "assert  our  rights,  and  support 
the  dignity  of  the  United  States." 

Jefferson  responded  by  following  the  best  Federalist 
precedents,  and  sending  William  Pinkney  as  envoy  extra- 
ordinary to  England,  to  join  Monroe,  the  minister  resi- 
dent, in  an  effort  to  persuade  the  British  government  to 
abandon  the  practice  of  impressment,  and  renounce  Sir 
William  Scott's  new  theory  of  neutral  trade.  They  pro- 
cured a  treaty,  containing  terms  so  humiliating  that 
Jefferson  refused  even  to  submit  it  to  the  Senate  for  con- 
sideration. 

Unfortunately  three  of  Jefferson's  measures  the  pre- 
vious year  had  already  convinced  such  moderate  Feder- 
alists as  were  inclined  to  trust  his  sincerity,  of  his  subser- 
vience to  Napoleon.  These  were  the  swift  passage  of  the 
bill  appropriating  two  million  dollars  for  foreign  inter- 
course; the  act  prohibiting  trade  with  insurrectory  San 
Domingo,  in  obedience  to  peremptory  orders  from  the 
French  Government,  and  the  act  forbidding  the  importa- 
tion of  British  goods.  Jefferson's  summary  rejection  of  the 
Monroe-Pinkney  treaty  was,  therefore,  considered  evi- 
dence of  a  desire  to  provoke  a  breach  with  Great  Britain. 


276 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


Three  months  later  occurred  an  incident  that  for  a  few 
brief  weeks  obliterated  party  lines  in  the  United  States 
and  brought  forth  the  only  united  expression  of  Ameri- 
can patriotism  between  the  X.Y.Z.  disclosures  and  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  On  June  22,  1807,  off  Hampton 
Roads,  the  commander  of  the  British  line-of-battle  ship 
Leopard  held  up  the  American  frigate  Chesapeake,  and 
demanded  that  certain  deserters  from  the  British  navy, 
said  to  be  on  board,  be  given  up.  On  being  refused,  he 
opened  fire,  killed  and  wounded  twenty-one  of  the  Chesa- 
peake's crew,  and  forcibly  impressed  three  American 
citizens  and  one  British  subject. 

News  of  this  outrage  on  the  American  flag  reached 
Boston  June  30,  and  fast  on  its  heels  came  copies  of  the 
spirited  resolutions  of  the  citizens  of  Norfolk,  Virginia, 
and  of  other  towns  between  there  and  Boston.  The  pro- 
ceedings that  followed  are  of  great  interest,  as  indicating 
a  struggle  between  the  Essex  Junto,  which  wished  to  con- 
done the  outrage  if  not  defend  the  Leopard,  and  the  patri- 
otic element  of  the  party,  led  by  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Otis. 

For  a  time  the  news  produced  the  same  effect  in  Boston 
as  elsewhere.  All  six  newspapers,  including  the  Palladium 
and  the  Repertory,  organs  of  the  Essex  Junto,  united  in 
reprobating  the  British  government,  but  the  principal 
Federalists  of  the  town  refused  to  call  a  town  meeting, 
probably  because  they  wished  to  await  further  informa- 
tion.^^ The  Republicans  then  took  out  of  their  hands  the 
opportunity  of  leading  public  sentiment,  and  called  a  pub- 
lic meeting  for  July  10.  The  announcement  was  made  in 
the  Chronicle  of  the  9th,  together  with  a  statement  that  it 

*^  In  1811,  the  Federalists  took  no  action  on  the  Non-Intercourse  Act 
of  March  3,  which  was  considered  as  a  prelude  to  war,  until  the  31st;  in  1809, 
no  meeting  on  the  Force  Act,  which  passed  January  9,  was  held  until  the 
24th. 


I 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    277 

would  be  highly  improper  to  admit  to  the  meeting  "those 
whom  we  have  reason  to  suppose  have  been  the  principal 
cause  of  our  difficulties  " — namely,  the  "Federal  leaders," 
whom  the  paper  accused  of  indirect  responsibility  for  the 
Leopard's  action  by  their  "display  of  disaffection,"  which 
"encouraged  the  British  to  try  the  experiment."  This 
unjust  and  tactless  statement  was  justly  resented  by  the 
Federalists,  and  served  only  to  re\'ive  party  hatred  at  a 
time  when  all  party  recriminations  should  have  been  sup- 
pressed. John  Quincy  Adams  was  the  only  prominent 
Federalist  to  attend.  The  Federalists  then  called  a  regu- 
lar town  meeting  for  July  16,  but  the  Essex  Junto,  true 
to  the  British  bias  of  their  minds,  were  already  defending 
the  British  side  of  the  case  through  the  columns  of  the 
Repertory,  and  refused  to  assist.  The  great  body  of  citi- 
zens did  go,  however,  since  some  two  thousand  persons 
were  present  as  opposed  to  two  hundred  at  the  Demo- 
cratic meeting.  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  the  most  prominent 
speaker,  delivered  a  spirited  denunciation  of  the  British 
outrage.  He  also  served  on  a  committee,  composed  chiefly 
of  Federalists,  that  drew  up  a  set  of  resolutions  promising 
the  government  their  support.  ^^ 

This  town  meeting  of  July  16,  1807,  separated  Otis, 
Adams,  and  the  body  of  Federalists  from  the  Essex  Junto, 
and  made  apparent  the  willingness  of  the  latter  to  go  to 
all  lengths  to  defend  England  and  to  embarrass  Jefferson's 
administration.  To  Otis's  credit  let  it  be  said  that  he  was 
willing  to  forget  party  lines  in  this  period  of  party  bitter- 
ness. Unfortunately  it  was  the  last  time  he  could  be  so 
impartial,  for  the  administration  soon  embarked  in  a 

"  A'.  E.  Federalism,  183;  Repertory,  July  10,  1807;  Boston  Toicn  Records, 
1796-1813,  p.  222;  J.  Q.  Adams,  Memoirs,  i,  469.  Adams  states  that  Otis  pro- 
posed another  resolution,  calling  on  the  government  for  the  protection  of  a 
naval  force,  but  withdrew  it  by  request  of  Adams  and  Jarvis,  because  it  would 
imply  a  censure  on  the  administratioQ. 


278 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


policy  that  made  it  impossible  for  a  Massachusetts  man 
to  support  Jefferson,  and  at  the  same  time  be  loyal  to  his 
state. 

LETTERS 

After  Otis  returned  to  Boston,  in  1801,  he  corresponded 
frequently  with  the  two  South  Carolina  friends  he  made 
at  Philadelphia:  John  Rutledge,  who  continued  in  Con- 
gress until  1803,  and  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  who  by  this 
time  had  changed  his  residence  to  Baltimore.  The  for- 
mer's views,  it  will  be  observed,  differed  in  no  way  from 
those  of  the  average  New  England  Federalist,  except  on 
the  Chesapeake  incident.  I  have  added  a  letter  from  Otis's 
loj^alist  uncle,  Harrison  Gray,  giving  his  view  of  that 
affair. 

JOHN   RUTLEDGE   TO   OTIS 

Weathersfield  July  17th  1803 
My  dear  friend, 

Altho'  I  had  a  wet  ride  home,  yet  it  was  preferrable  to  the 
dusty  one  I  had  in  going,  and  the  weather  considered  a  pleasant 
one.  Thursday  night  at  10  o'Clock  I  arrived  in  the  dark  and  rain 
at  Pomfret,  where  I  heard  a  chattering  of  french,  and  upon 
entering  the  Inn  found  Gou[verneu]re  Morris  with  two  french 
Valets  —  a  french  travelling  companion,  and  his  hair  buckled 
up  in  about  one  hundred  Papilliottes.  His  wooden  leg,  papilli- 
ottes,  french  attendants,  and  french  conversation  made  his 
Host,  Hostess,  their  daughters,  &  grand  Daughters,  with  the 
whole  family,  including  the  Hostler  &  Betty  the  Cook  maid, 
stare  most  prodigiously;  and  gave  me  some  idea  how  the  natives 
looked  when  poor  Cooke  made  his  Entree  at  the  friendly 
Isles.  When  I  arrived  at  a  village  where  I  the  next  day  dined 
the  Landlord,  who  proved  to  be  a  federalist,  told  me  Govr  Clin- 
ton from  New  York  had  passed  by  the  day  before  in  a  coach  by 
himself,  &  his  son  in  law  Mr  Genet  in  company  in  another 
coach,  &  together  they  had  three  french  servants;  and  he  added, 
with  a  most  sapient  look,  that  Mr  Ben  Austin  had  that  morning 
passed  by  in  a  Coach  from  Hartford,  and  he  could  swear  these 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    279 

fellows  were  not  going  to  Boston  for  anything  good,  they  were 
three  devils.  It  was  impossible  to  hear  this  denunciation  without 
laughing,  and  I  told  him  that  his  Govt  Clinton  was  Govre 
Morris,  he  made  many  apologies  was  very  eloquent  in  his 
eulogies  upon  Morris,  &  expressed  very  strongly  his  regrets 
that  he  had  not  stopped  &  given  him  an  opportunity  of  con- 
versing with  the  great  Man  who  had  made  such  great  speeches 
in  Congress.  ... 


JOHN   RUTLEDGE   TO   OTIS 

Weathersfield  October  1st  1803 
My  dear  friend  — 

The  elections  which  were  held  last  week  were  quite  as  favor- 
able as  the  friends  of  national  liberty  expected,  &  from  what  I 
hear  &  see  I  really  believe  the  fever  of  democracy  has  had  its 
crisis  &  that  things  will  now  be  growing  better  &  better.  There 
is  a  great  sterility  of  domestic  politics,  but  the  meeting  of  the 
National  Assembly  will  soon  engage  public  attention.  Our  Mas- 
ter will  have  mighty  fine  tales  to  amuse  his  Mountain  &  their 
mob  with  —  we  shall  have  the  prosperous  condition  of  the 
Republic  eulogized,  &  hear  much  of  the  great  advantages  which 
will  obtain  to  us  by  the  purchase  of  a  trackless  world.  A  Coun- 
try which  when  worth  the  holding  will  I  have  no  doubt  rival  & 
oppose  the  atlantic  States.  I  do  not  mean  New  Orleans  which 
was  absolutely  necessary  for  us  to  get,  and  which  in  substance 
is  all  we  have  got  for  our  fifteen  Millions.  This  seems  to  me  a 
miserably  calamitous  business  —  indeed  I  think  it  must  result 
in  the  disunion  of  these  States  —  and  yet  such  is  the  force  of 
prejudice  &  popular  delusion  that  the  measure  cannot  yet  be 
even  brought  to  the  bar  of  argument.  I  have  a  letter  of  a  pretty 
recent  date  from  London  saying  Great  Britain  had  captured 
four  millions  sterling  value  of  property  from  the  french  & 
dutch,  and  that  John  Bull  was  in  high  Spirits,  full  of  confidence 
in  his  preparations  &  strength,  &  not  fearful  on  the  score  of 
invasion.  I  wait  with  impatience  to  hear  the  fate  of  these  inva- 
ders who  are  I  think  destined  to  fatten  the  fish  between  the 
coasts  of  france  &  england.  Am  I,  do  you  think,  to  give  up  all 
hope  of  getting  my  renegado  Peter.'*  If  money  can  tempt  your 


280  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Constables  you  may  offer  &  give  300$  for  his  apprehension. 
Pray  present  my  affectionate  Comps  to  your  dear  Mrs  Otis  to 
whom  Mrs  R  desires  to  be  remembered  most  respectfully. 
That  both  of  you  &  all  of  your  little  tribe  may  enjoy  health 
happiness  &  every  kind  of  comfort  is  the  fervent  prayer  of 

Your  sincere  friend 

John  Rutledge 

ROBERT  GOODLOE  HARPER  TO  OTIS 

Baltimore  May  27th  1806 

My  dear  Otis 

*********** 

I  am  sorry  to  find  that  one  of  the  last  of  our  great  federal 
posts  indeed  the  last  but  one,  is  about  to  be  at  length  reduced.  ^^ 
You  have  sustained  a  long  siege,  and  done  the  duty  of  a  brave 
and  faithful  garrison;  but  no  works,  however  defended,  can 
hold  out  finally,  against  the  united  operation  of  sap  and  block- 
ade. It  has  long  been  my  settled  opinion  that  the  delusions  of 
democracy,  like  other  delusions  of  the  human  mind,  cannot  be 
resisted  by  reason  and  truth  alone.  These  delusions  must  wear 
out  of  themselves,  be  dissipated  by  suffering,  or  counter-acted 
by  other  delusions  and  passions,  to  which  circumstances  may 
give  birth  or  activity.  .  .  . 

In  the  Drama  now  acting,  or  perhaps  only  rehersing,  on  the 
theatre  of  our  world,  my  favourite  hero  is  Alexander;  whose 
character,  however,  is  not  yet  fully  ascertained,  and  perhaps 
not  fully  formed.  Prince  Charles  comes  next,  who  has  at  length 
arrived  at  that  station  in  his  own  country,  which  alone  can 
enable  a  man  to  display,  with  effect,  great  talents  and  great 
qualities.  But  his  talents  as  a  statesman,  without  which  his 
military  talents  though  the  first  of  the  age  must  be  unavailing, 
are  yet  to  be  proved.  The  character  &  principles  of  Buonoparte 
I  detest,  while  I  admire  his  capacity  and  his  vigour,  and  am  free 
to  confess  that  he  acts  a  most  important  part  in  the  piece.  The 
parts  next  in  interest  are  cast  in  England;  but  we  do  not  know 
much  of  the  actors  yet,  and  what  we  do  know  is  not  much  to 
their  advantage.  My  feelings  and  affections,  however,  are  with 
them,  and  I  hope  that  they  will  worthily  sustain  their  parts. 
^8  A  reference  to  the  state  elections  in  Massachusetts. 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    281 

The  affairs  of  our  own  country  make  a  sort  of  under-plot, 
which  engages  the  attention  only  because  it  is  near,  and  in 
which  the  miserable  actors,  incapable  of  "rising  to  the  dignity 
of  being  hated,"  excite  no  other  emotions  than  those  of  pity  and 
contempt;  or  if  detested,  are  detested  only  as  odious  reptiles 
which  crawl  about  our  feet,  and  by  their  filthiness  and  deformity 
fill  us  with  disgust,  or  excite  apprehension  by  their  venomous 
qualities.  Ohe  jam  satis ! 

God  bless  you;  ardently  wishes,  my  dear  Otis, 

Your  affectionate  friend 

Rob:  G:  Harper 


My  dear  friend 


JOHN  RUTLEDGE   TO   OTIS 

Charleston  July  29th  1806 


Although  I  have  enjoyed  great  good  health  since  I  saw  you, 
yet  I  am  growing  old,  my  friend;  &  so  grey,  that  if  Mrs  O,  in 
any  prospect  of  an  increase  to  your  family  hereafter,  should 
take  a  fancy  to  pluck  three  black  hairs  out  of  my  head,  as  Mrs 
Pickle  longed  to  out  of  Commodore  Trunnions,  she  would  still 
be  more  embarrassed  to  find  them.  Assure  her  however,  that 
she  will  find  me  upon  that,  &  upon  every  other  occasion  as  gentle 
as  a  Lamb,  &  always  ready  to  prove  how  much  I  respect,  esteem 
&  venerate  her.  I  beg  leave  with  all  due  humility  to  kiss  Miss 
Eliza's  hand  —  there  is  not  a  fairer  one  in  all  Charleston.  I  beg 
to  be  remember'd  to  my  friend  Harry  affectionately,  &  to  all 
my  young  friends  of  your  Nursery. 

The  friends  of  good  government  in  this  section  of  the  Union, 
have  been  filled  with  gloom  by  the  cloud  which  hangs  over '  the 
head  Quarters  of  good  Principles.'  I  will  not  importune  you  by 
an  enquiry  respecting  the  causes  which  combined  to  produce 
this  degraded  state,  but  do  most  sincerely  pray,  &  hope,  that 
fortune  may  soon  play  your  wonderfully  lucky  fools  a  trick,  & 
make  their  fall  in  proportion  to  their  elevation.  You  are  so 
commercial  a  people,  that  I  had  believed  your  Politics  would 
have  been  chastened  by  the  non  importation  law  which  is  to 
take  place  as  to  certain  articles  after  November;  &  by  the  gov- 
ernments acquiescence  in  Mirandas  expedition.  We  are  surely  a 


282  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

set  of  bungling  Politicians  —  we  affront  all  the  powers  of  Europe 
at  one  time  —  it  would  be  curious,  if  they  were  to  act  as  two 
hostile  parties  do  in  one  of  Shakespears  plays,  agree  to  suspend 
their  difficulties  untill  they  had  punished  us.  We  have  a  party, 
who  know  nothing  of  &  care  nothing  for  commerce,  &  numbers 
who,  because  we  are  not  to  be  conquered,  seem  to  forget  that 
we,  upon  the  Coast,  at  least,  may  at  any  time  be  ruined.  By 
our  last  accounts  from  England  the  state  of  Europe  seems  un- 
settled &  gloomy.  The  humiliation  of  the  ancient  house  of 
Austria  is  deplorable.  The  king  of  Naples  must  yield  every 
thing,  I  think,  to  the  superior  force,  &  ascendancy  of  Bonaparte. 
Prussia  plays  a  part  which  nobody  seems  to  understand  —  but 
England  will  forever  hold  out  —  their  sinking  fund  will  enable 
them  to  borrow  as  much  as  they  please,  &  their  trade  is  greater 
than  ever.  I  have  long  considered  england  as  but  the  advanced 
guard  of  our  Country,  &  it  is  to  be  lamented,  that  the  conduct  of 
that  government  should  be  such  towards  a  portion  of  our  Coun- 
trymen, as  to  prevent  any  one  american  from  wishing  that  their 
resistance  may  be  successful.  If  they  fall  we  do  —  Bonaparte 
neither  loves  nor  values  any  thing,  but  the  agrandizement  of 
the  Nation,  &  the  extension  of  his  own  military  fame.  To 
Messrs.  Cabot  Ames  Perkins  Mason  Davis  &c  &c  &c  pray 
make  my  Comps.  acceptable.  Adieu  my  dr  Otis  &  believe  me 
to  be  with  encreased  attachment 

Your  sincere  &  faithful  friend 

I  J:   RUTLEDGE 

OTIS   TO   ROBERT   GOODLOE   HARPER 
From  the  Harper  Manuscripts 

Boston  19  April  1807. 
My  dear  friend, 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  instrumental  in  the 
promotion  of  your  wishes  to  raise  a  sum  of  money  by  loan ;  but 
am  unable  to  give  you  any  encouragement  of  my  being  able  to 
effect  it.  Indeed  I  am  so  little  in  this  way  of  dealing  that  I  can 
only  promise  you  to  employ  some  intelligent  broker  and  ascer- 
tain through  that  medium  the  practicability  of  your  plan,  and 
to  add  to  your  offers  my  own  assurances  of  the  reliance  which  I 
know  may  always  be  placed  upon  your  word  and  your  resources. 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    283 

It  is  true  that  we  abound  in  monied  men,  but  I  may  add  that 
opus  nummi  crescit  quantum  crescit  pecunia  ipsa,  and  our  capi- 
talists here  find  it  easy  to  invest  their  superfluous  dollars  on 
more  advantageous  terms  than  you  offer,  and  the  proximity  of 
security  is  a  circumstance  that  will  always  give  a  preference  to 
proposals  from  men  on  the  spot.  I  presume  that  the  course 
and  relations  of  business  are  much  the  same  here  as  in  your  city. 
The  minds  of  men  teem  with  projects,  &  because  everything  has 
hitherto  succeeded  owing  to  the  unprecedented  circumstances 
of  our  Country,  the  conclusion  is  that  nothing  can  miscarry. 
Hence  bridges,  turnpikes,  canals,  houselots  and  every  species  of 
property  are  under  some  aspect  or  another  objects  of  specula- 
tion, and  I  hope  we  may  never  see  the  ruin  as  broad  as  the 
enterprise.  It  is  the  principal  misfortune  of  our  country  that  all 
avenues  to  great  and  liberal  and  patriotic  objects  are  shut 
against  the  noble  and  highminded;  and  that  the  ardour  and 
genius  which  were  naturally  to  sway  the  affairs  of  state,  are 
forced  into  a  competition  with  mercantile  and  landjobbing  pro- 
jectors. Hence  money  is  the  object  here  witli  all  ranks  and  de- 
grees, and  though  a  great  deal  is  accumulated,  yet  as  Paddy 
would  say,  still  more  is  distributed,  and  every  reservoir  has 
many  aqueducts.  .  .  .  You  will  see  Mason  on  his  return  and 
see  whether  he  confirms  these  ideas,  and  I  will  cheerfully  coope- 
rate with  him,  or  endeavour  without  him  to  obtain  the  requisite 
information,  which  is  all  I  can  engage. 

I  shall  in  a  few  days  give  to  a  Mr  Story^^  from  this  place  a 
line  of  introduction  to  you,  at  his  particular  request,  and  will 
thank  you  to  pay  him  such  attentions  as  may  be  consistent 
with  your  convenience  and  leisure.  He  is  a  young  man  of  tal- 
ents, who  commenced  Democrat  a  few  years  since  and  was 
much  fondled  by  his  party.  He  discovered  however  too  much 
sentiment  and  honour  to  go  all  lengths,  &  acted  on  several  oc- 
casions with  a  very  salutary  spirit  of  independence  &  in  fact  did 
so  much  good,  that  his  party  have  denounced  him,  and  a  little 
attention  from  the  right  sort  of  people  will  be  very  useful  to  him 
&  to  us.  .  .  . 

I  am  with  great  esteem  my  dr  Sr  yr.  respectful  friend 

H.  G.  Otis 

^^  Joseph  Story. 


284  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


JOHN  RUTLEDGE   TO   OTIS 


Charleston  August  8d  1807. 

You  are  so  cool  &  dispassionate  a  people  in  Boston  that  you 
seem  to  have  escaped  the  passion  which  enflames  us,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  outrage  on  one  of  our  frigates.  Altho'  I  deprecate 
war  quite  as  much  as  any  of  my  friends  can,  yet,  I  think,  a  War 
(even  with  Great  Britain)  would  prove  more  honourable  pros- 
perous &  safe,  &  less  costly,  than  a  state  of  Peace  in  which  a 
foreign  Nation  is  to  exercise  the  right  of  searching  our  National 
Ships.  The  general  business  of  impressing  American  seamen  was 
to  be  sure  not  worth  mooting  —  where  G.  Britain  has  in  her 
service  one  of  our  sailors  we  have  twenty  of  hers  on  board  our 
Merchantmen,  &  this  is  so  well  known  in  that  section  of  the 
Union  where  Mariners  &  navigation  belong  (New  England) 
that  complaints  have  ceased.  The  complainings  come  from  Vir- 
ginia, where  there  are  neither  sailors  nor  ships,  &  where  this  is 
contrived  to  aliment  &  concentrate  the  angry  passions  floating 
through  our  Country  against  G.  Britain,  Altho'  this  disgraceful 
Spirit  has  brought  upon  us  our  present  deplorable  condition,  & 
this  miserable  state  is  chargeable  to  the  Errors  &  Vices  of  those 
Empirics  who  administer  our  government,  still  my  friend  we 
must  support  this  government.  With  our  Commerce  so  ex- 
tended as  it  is,  &  our  Keels  fretting  every  sea,  we  must  have  a 
navy;  &  that  will  be  impossible  if  our  Ships  of  War  are  to  be 
searched  —  we  must  kick  against  this  &  fight  against  it,  &  fight 
as  we  should  pro  Aris  &  focis.  Had  I  more  paper  I  should  scrib- 
ble much  more  on  this  topic.  Pray  remember  me  affectionately 
to  Mrs  Otis  &  the  young  folks. 

HARRISON   GRAY   TO   OTIS 
N  18  Clipstone  St  Fitzroy  Square  [London]  Augt  lOth  [1807] 

My  Dear  Nephew 

*********** 

I  hope  to  God  the  Unhappy  differences  between  this  Country 
&  yours  will  be  amicably  settled  as  a  War  (which  I  pray  God  to 
avert)  would  be  ruinous  to  both,  the  Goverment  here  seem 


CALM,  CONSPIRACY,  CHESAPEAKE  AFFAIR    285 

disposed  to  yield  to  everything  in  reason,  and  the  Merchants 
say,  that  your  Country  is  grasping  at  too  much,  that  if  you 
give  them  an  Inch,  they  want  an  Ell,  and  that  they  are  never 
satisfied  —  when  both  Goverment  are  disposed  for  Peace,  it  is  a 
melancholy  consideration  that  the  indiscretion  of  Hot  headed 
Admirals  &  Needy  Captains  &  a  misguided  Mob,  shoud  bring 
on  hostilities  between  Countries  that  wish  to  be  at  peace, Your 
Government  has  not  yet  sent  any  Official  dispatches  of  the 
unpleasant  business  the  President  Speech  is  thought  in  general 
to  be  moderate.  It  would  have  been  much  more  so,  if  he  had 
permitted  the  fleet  that  was  in  distress  to  have  had  supplies  for 
that  time  &  then  not  to  expect  any  more  hereafter.  It  would 
have  been  but  liberal  to  have  done  it. 

Stocks  rose  yesterday  27  [?]  P  Cent  upon  the  prospect  of 
Peace  upon  the  Continent  as  the  13th  Article  in  the  Treaty  of 
Peace  with  Russia  &  France  the  Emperor  offers  his  mediation 
for  Peace  &  the  Tyrant  accepts  —  I  refer  you  to  the  papers  for 
all  particulars.  With  my  best  love  &  regards  to  Mrs  Otis  and  all 
your  dear  Flock  &  may  you  all  live  long  &  be  happy  is  the  Wish 
of  your  Affectionate  Uncle  &  Faithful  Friend 

H.  Gray. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    FEDERALIST    MACHINE  ^ 

1800-1823,  ^T.  35-58 

The  disastrous  election  of  1800  demonstrated  to  Fed- 
eralist leaders  the  need  of  solidarity  and  organization  in 
their  party.  Two  courses  were  open  to  them.  They  might 
have  popularized  their  party,  as  the  Republicans  had 
done  in  the  Middle  States,  by  adopting  the  convention  of 
delegates  as  a  method  of  nomination.  But  so  democratic 
an  institution  was  contrary  to  all  Federalist  faith  and 
precedent,  especially  in  New  England.  The  "Land  of 
Steady  Habits"  was  suspicious  of  extra-legal  machinery. 
The  very  word  "convention"  had  an  unpleasant  Jacobin 
connotation  to  its  ears.^    What  the  Federalist  leaders 

^  No  one  has  yet  described,  or  even,  it  seems,  suspected,  the  existence  of  the 
Federalist  machine  in  Massachusetts.  Even  Dr.  G.  D.  Luetscher  makes  no 
mention  of  it  in  his  Early  Political  Machinery  in  the  United  States  (Philadelphia, 
1903),  to  which,  however,  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  its  description  of  other  con- 
temporary party  organizations.  But  this  is  not  surprising,  for  no  party  machine 
courts  publicity,  and  the  Federalist  machine  had  particular  reasons  for  wish- 
ing to  remain  secret.  The  Otis  MSS.  revealed  its  existence. 

2  The  following  is  a  tj'pical  Federalist  comment  upon  one  of  the  first  county 
nominating  conventions  held  in  New  England : 

Middlesex  Jacobin  Club. 
"The  caucus,  alias  County  Convention,  alias  Jacobin  Club,  .  .  .  actually 
met  yesterday  at  Noah  Brooks'  tavern  in  Lincoln.  There  was,  it  is  true,  much 
slcullcing  and  crossing  lots,  before  the  club  got  together;  but  after  meeting,  they 
proceeded  to  organize,  as  they  were  pleased  to  call  it,  pretty  much  in  the  manner 
that  the  County  Conventions  did  in  Shays'  times;  and  the  Jacobin  Clubs,  did 
under  the  reign  of  Robespierre  in  France.  As  the  Conventioners  were  all  men 
picked  by  the  authors  of  the  meeting,  from  24  out  of  42  towns,  and  chosen  the 
Lord  only  knows  how,  or  whom  by;  —  and  as  Squire  Dana,  had  the  Resolutions 
already  ci/t  and  dried,  at  hand,  there  was  a  wonderful  unanimity."  {Centinel, 
October  27,  1804.) 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  287 

needed  was  a  machine,  that  would  register  the  will  of  the 
"wise  and  good "  as  to  nominations,  and  at  the  same  time 
reach  out  to  the  ordinary  voter,  on  whom  (most  unfortun- 
ately, from  the  Federalist  viewpoint)  their  power  de- 
pended in  the  last  resort.  And  we  find  that  in  Massachu- 
setts by  1804^  there  was  established  a  party  organization 
differing  absolutely  from  the  usual  American  type,  in 
that  it  was  thoroughly  centralized,  made  no  concessions, 
even  in  theory,  to  popular  rights,  and  was  frankly  based 
upon  the  right  of  the  leaders  to  rule  the  party,  and 
through  it  the  body  politic.  Whatever  the  origin  of  this 
organization,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  Harrison  Gray  Otis  had 
a  hand  in  it.  He  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature 
when  it  was  established,  and  his  correspondence  shows 
him  to  have  been  most  active  in  its  management. 

The  starting-point  of  the  Federalist  machine  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  the  adoption  of  the  legislative  caucus,  con- 
sisting of  the  Federalist  members  of  both  branches  of  the 
General  Court,  as  the  nominating  organ  for  governor  and 
lieutenant-governor.    This  step  probably  took  place  in 

The  Federal  party  in  New  England,  between  1808  and  1815,  frequently  held 
county  conventions  to  pass  resolutions  censuring  national  policy,  but  never, 
so  far  as  I  know,  made  nominations  by  this  method  before  1817,  and  after  that 
only  exceptionally. 

'  I  have  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  Federalist  organization  in  Massa- 
chusetts, as  we  find  it  between  1804  and  1823,  was  introduced  between  1800  and 
1804,  since  (1)  the  legislative  caucus  was  only  established  in  1800  (see  next 
note);  (2)  various  allusions  in  the  Independent  Chronicle  oi  1804  (e.g.,  October 
22),  indicate  that  this  organization  had  just  been  discovered  by  the  Democrats; 
and  (3)  William  Plumer  organized  the  New  Hampshire  Federalists  in  a  similar 
manner  in  1804:  "Associating  with  himself  five  other  persons,  one  from  each 
county,  he  organized  them  into  a  self-constituted  State  Committee.  Under  this 
committee,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  county  committees  were  formed,  and 
under  these,  town  and  school  district  committees,  whose  duty  it  was  to  bring 
every  Federal  voter  to  the  polls,  and  secure,  as  far  as  possible,  the  wavering  and 
doubtful  to  their  ranks."  —  Lije  of  Plumer,  313.  Similar  organizations  were 
adopted  by  the  New  Jersey  Federalists  between  1801  and  1803  (Luetscher,  88, 
92-93);  and  a  letter  from  James  B.  Mason,  of  Providence,  to  Otis,  dated  July 
11,  1808,  shows  that  the  Rhode  Island  Federalists  had  by  that  time  gone 
through  the  same  process. 


288  H.VRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

1800.  "^  The  method  had  been  in  vogue  in  Maryland  since 
1788,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  had  ah-eady  been  adopted 
by  both  parties  in  Congress,  for  nominating  presidential 
candidates.  For  Massachusetts  it  was  a  great  advance, 
since  previously  the  nominations  for  governor  had  simply 
been  announced  in  the  Boston  newspapers  —  probably 
at  the  dictation  of  the  Essex  Junto  —  and  had  not  always 
attracted  the  entire  party  vote.  Yet  the  party  leaders 
responsible  for  the  caucus  assumed  an  apologetic  atti- 
tude, on  account  of  New  England's  prejudice  against 
extra-legal  machinery;  and  nominations  made  by  it  were 
generally  announced  without  any  indication  of  their 
source,  or  in  ambiguous  language.  This  diffidence  was 
particularly  apparent  in  1808  and  1812,  when  the  Federal 
party  was  denouncing  as  despotic  and  unconstitutional 
the  nomination  of  Madison  by  a  congressional  caucus. 
We  are  fortunate  to  have  preserved,  in  a  contemporary 
letter,  ^  a  vivid  picture  of  the  Federalist  legislative  caucus 
in  session,  in  the  year  1816  when  it  was  necessary  to  find  a 
successor  to  Governor  Strong.  The  letter  first  states  that 
Otis  was  offered  the  nomination,  but  refused  it. 

Lieut:  Governor  Phillips  was  then  waited  upon  by  a  Com- 
mittee and  the  offer  of  the  first  place  given  him  and  received 
rather  in  dudgeon  because  as  he  believed  the  offer  had  elsewhere 
been  made,  he  wrote  as  answer  that  he  would  neither  accept  the 
first  nor  second  place,  and  now  there  was  trouble  in  the  camp 
and  various  candidates  proposed.  The  President  of  the  Senate 
[John  Phillips]  and  Speaker  [Timothy  Bigelow]  were  both  of 
the  Caucus  Committee;  the  latter  succeeded  in  a  nomination^ 
from  the  Committee  to  the  grand  body.   All  were  surprised, 

*  T.  C.  Amory,  James  Sullivan,  ii,  65. 

^  Edward  H.  Robbins,  ex-lieutenant-governor,  to  Samuel  Howe,  February  7, 
1816.  Communicated  to  me  through  the  kindness  of  their  descendant,  Archi- 
bald M.  Howe,  Esq. 

^  Of  John  Brooks,  for  governor.  The  remainder  of  the  letter  relates  to  the 
nomination  for  lieutenant-governor. 


;the  feder.\list  machine  SSS 

some  swore,  others  grew  faint  and  complained  of  the  air  of  the 
room,  others  more  collected  called  for  adjournments  and  suc- 
ceeded, all  inquiring  as  they  came  down,  "What  shall  we  do?" 
Another  meeting  was  held,  a  new  Committee  softer  and 
smoother  were  recommended  for  another  attack  on  the  present 
incumbent  [^Yilliam  Phillips]  of  which  your  neighbor  of  the  Sen- 
ate was  one.  It  was  with  diflSculty  they  could  see  him,  and  very 
soon  directed  to  inform  the  body  that  he  would  not  be  the  can- 
didate, and  off  they  came  with  a  flea  in  their  ears  as  the  saying 
is.  In  the  meantime  the  Speaker  grew  sick,  as  you  will  see  by 
the  paper;  a  new  meeting  was  summoned  to  decide  on  his  fate, 
his  friends  flew  to  Medford  and  obtained  a  letter  declining  most 
fully  and  satisfactorily.  The  cry  was  again  "What  shall  we 
do.^ "  Some  said  "Let  us  consult  out-doors  among  the  common 
voters.  Some  of  them  may  know  something  as  well  as  the 
Court  folks."  Others  said  "It  would  please  them  and  do  no 
hurt  —  advised  to  delay  48  hours."  In  24,  they  were  assured 
Lieutenant  Governor  would  stand;  a  new  Committee  appointed 
to  wait  on  him  with  a  vote  that  the  Federal  interest  in  this 
state  imperiously  demanded  of  him  the  sacrifice  and  nothing 
short  of  his  compliance  would  satisfy  the  public  sentiment  and 
to  request  his  permission  to  use  his  name.  He  replied  that  he 
had  consulted  conscience  and  duty  and  found  himself  bound 
to  assent,  and  from  that  moment  was  as  clay  in  the  potter's 
hands. 

"The  caucus  committee,"  which  is  mentioned  in  this 
letter,  consisted  of  one  member  from  each  county  in  the 
state,  and,  as  in  this  case,  its  recommendation  was  gener- 
ally adopted  by  the  whole  body.  Otis  wrote  William 
Sullivan  in  1822,  after  intimating  that  he  would  accept 
the  nomination  for  governor,  "I  venture  only  to  suggest 
that  a  nomination  of  Governor  ought  not  to  be  referred 
to  a  Caucus  Committee — It  is  a  most  exceptionable  mode." 
A  letter  from  James  Lloyd  in  1808,  addressed  to  "Honble. 
Mr.  Otis,  chairman  of  Federal  meeting  of  the  members  of 
the  Legislature,"  ^  and  accepting  his  nomination  for  Sen- 

'  Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  xlv,  374. 


290  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ator,  indicates  that  the  caucus  then  possessed  a  func- 
tion that  it  has  just  lost — that  of  selecting  United  States 
Senators. 

Either  the  legislative  caucus,  or  the  caucus  committee, 
elected  annually  a  smaller  and  permanent  body,  the  Cen- 
tral Committee  of  the  State.  This  body,  consisting  gen- 
erally of  seven  Bostonians,  not  all  of  whom  were  neces- 
sarily members  of  the  legislature,  was  the  keystone  and 
executive  head  of  the  Federalist  machine  in  Massachu- 
setts. It  appointed  the  county  commi  ttees,  through  which 
it  controlled  the  tow^n  committees  and  all  nominations 
to  the  General  Court;  it  directed  the  campaigns,  pub- 
lished an  annual  "address  to  the  people,"  distributed 
literature,  kept  local  leaders  up  to  the  mark,  and  saw  to  it 
that  Federalist  towns  were  fully  represented;  in  short,  it 
had  every  function  of  the  modern  state  central  committee, 
and  possessed  far  more  power.  Its  very  existence,  how- 
ever, as  well  as  that  of  the  organization  that  flowed  from 
it,  was  intended  to  be  kept  a  profound  secret;  not  only  on 
account  of  its  violation  of  New  England  traditions,  but  be- 
cause, as  a  similar  committee  in  Philadelphia  observed  in 
1808,  "Considerate  people  are  convinced  that  measures 
must  be  digested  by  the  few,  nevertheless  among  the  mass 
each  is  desirous  that  he  should  be  one  of  the  number."  ^ 
The  leaders  must  have  been  fairly  confident  that  their 
secrecy  could  be  maintained,  for  the  CentineU  describing 
an  exactly  similar  Democratic  machine  in  1808,  had  the 
effrontery  to  denounce  its  efforts  as  "wicked  exertions 
of  wicked  men"  and  a  "profanation  of  the  temple  of 
freedom."  ^  The  Chronicle,  on  the  other  hand,  frequently 

^  Am.  Hist.  Rev.,  xvii,  7G0. 

'  Article,  "  Freedom  of  Election,"  in  Centinel,  August  3, 1808.  Cf.  Luetscher, 
105,  141-43.  From  what  I  have  observed  in  the  course  of  this  study,  I  should 
say  that  the  Democratic  organization  in  Massachusetts  was  in  all  essentials  the 
same  as  the  Federalist,  except  for  a  substitution,  from  1808  on,  of  the  county 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  291 

served  up  to  its  readers  an  expose  of  the  Federalist  ma- 
chine. Both  parties,  it  seems,  lived  in  glass  houses,  and 
threw  stones  freely. 

Our  principal  source  of  information  for  the  activities 
of  the  Central  Committee  consists  in  a  few  copies  that 
have  survived  of  printed  circular  letters,  signed  in  manu- 
script, by  which  it  communicated  with  the  county  and 
town  committees.^"  The  signatures  indicate  its  personnel. 
Otis's  name  invariably  stands  first,  suggesting  that  he 
was  chairman —  a  supposition  which  several  letters  from 
local  committee  men  among  his  papers,  addressed  to 
him  in  that  capacity, ^^  confirm.  Associated  with  him  are 
such  men  as  Thomas  Handasyd  Perkins,  William  Sulli- 
van, Daniel  Sargent,  John  Welles,  and  John  Phillips,  all 
politicians,  and  members  of  leading  Boston  families;  Israel 
Thorndike,  one  of  the  wealthiest  merchants  of  Boston; 
ArtemasWard,  son  of  the  general  of  the  same  name,  and 
Francis  Dana  Channing,  a  brother  of  William  Ellery 
Channing.  Although  this  list  is  notable  for  the  absence  of 
any  member  of  the  Essex  Junto  persuasion,  yet  we  find 
that  at  this  period  the  Essex  Junto  profoundly  influ- 
enced Federalist  policy,  and  that  the  committees  which 
managed  the  presidential  campaigns  of  1808  and  1812 
were  chosen  almost  exclusively  from  its  ranks.  Probably 
the  Junto  considered  the  routine  work  of  the  central 
committee  below  its  consideration. 

convention  for  the  county  mass  meeting,  which  gave  the  voter  a  slightly  better 
chance  of  overruling  the  dictates  of  the  men  "  higher  up."  See  J.  Q.  Adams, 
Memoirs,  i,  538^0;  Centinel,  March  30,  1811,  April  3,  1819  (exposes  of  Demo- 
cratic circular  letters) ;  Boston  Scourge,  September  17, 181 1 ;  Centinel,  October  9, 
1824;  Diary  of  William  Bentley,  iii,  303.  The  Democratic  machine,  it  seems, 
was  even  then  controlled  by  the  federal  oflSce-holders  in  Boston  —  Aaron  Hill, 
Henry  Dearborn,  Perez  Morton,  James  Prince,  etc. 

^^  Besides  the  one  here  reproduced  in  facsimile,  there  is  one  dated  February 
9,  1810,  in  the  Am.  Antiq.  Soc;  one  of  April  13,  1810,  in  the  New  York  Hist. 
Soc.  Another,  dated  April  19,  1811,  is  printed  in  the  Chronicle,  May  2,  1811. 

^^  Cf.  Josiah  Dwight's  letters,  following  this  and  the  next  chapter. 


292  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Circular  letters  were  issued  at  least  twice  a  year:  be- 
fore the  governor's  election,  and  between  that  date  (the 
first  Monday  in  April)  and  the  election  of  state  represen- 
tatives. A  page  of  stock  remarks  on  French  influence. 
Jacobin  intolerance,  etc.,  laying  stress  upon  the  particular 
need  for  exertion  that  year,  was  always  followed  by  a 
confidential  communication  on  methods  and  organization. 
The  circular  of  February  9,  1810,  for  instance,  states  to 
the  county  committees : 

You  will  impress  the  several  town  committees,  with  the 
necessity  of  dividing  their  towns  into  sections,  of  appointing 
committees  for  every  district,  of  confirming  the  doubtful,  and 
exciting  those  who  are  firm;  and  of  sending  the  full  number  of 
representatives.  The  means  of  information  must  be  placed  in 
the  hands  of  all  who  will  make  a  right  use  of  them. 

You  will  recommend  to  the  committees  frequent  meetings 
with  the  inhabitants,  and  the  prompt  distribution  of  any  politi- 
cal papers  they  may  receive,  and  communications  of  any  intel- 
ligence they  may  obtain. 

A  correspondence  should  be  maintained  between  the  several 
county  committees,  and  information  given  of  the  arts  that 
may  be  resorted  to  by  our  opponents,  in  season  to  frustrate 
them. 

The  second  page  of  the  circular  of  February  19,  1811 
(reproduced  opposite  in  facsimile),  shows  the  Central 
Committee  ordering  a  change  in  the  form  of  the  county 
committees;  and  the  circular  of  April  19,  1811,  addressed 
to  the  town  committees,  gives  such  detailed  instructions 
for  getting  out  the  vote,  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  a 
single  Federalist  voter  escaped  being  dragged  to  the  polls. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  these  documents  reveal  a  highly  central- 
ized party  machine  in  a  surprisingly  advanced  state  of 
development:  a  hierarchy  of  committees,  district,  town, 
and  county,  all  controlled  and  set  in  motion  by  a  Central 
State  Committee  in  Boston. 


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THE  IfBRAinr 

or  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  29S 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  practical  workings  of  the  ma- 
chine. The  county  committees  appointed  and  supervised 
the  town  committees,  and  summoned  a  county  caucus 
some  time  in  the  month  of  March,  to  nominate  a  hst  of 
state  senators.^^  This  caucus  was  theoretically  a  mass- 
meeting  open  to  every  voter  in  the  county,  but,  since 
only  the  inhabitants  of  the  county  town  where  it  was  held 
could  well  attend,  the  committee  really  made  the  nomi- 
nations. In  Boston,  both  a  town  and  a  county,  the  proce- 
dure was  somewhat  different.  Here  the  machinery  was  con- 
trolled by  the  "Central  Committee  of  Suffolk  County,'* 
appointed  by  the  Central  Committee  of  the  State;  and  by 
the  ward  committees.  These  last  were  elected  by  the  ward 
caucuses,  and  were  one  of  the  few  popular  features  of  the 
Federalist  organization.  Twice  a  year  (three  times  in 
even  years),  about  two  weeks  before  the  elections  for  gov- 
ernor, for  state  representatives,  and  for  Congress, ^^  the 
Suffolk  Central  Committee  called  a  Primary  or  Initial 
Caucus.  This  institution  was  composed  of  the  Central 
Committee,  the  ward  committees,  and  a  carefully  selected 
list  of  invited  guests,  which  made  it  a  very  congenial  little 
affair.  It  was  held  either  at  the  Exchange  Coffee-House, 
or  at  Jemmy  Vila's  "Concert  Hall,"  and  its  privacy 
was  respected  by  the  Federalist  press.  At  the  March 

'^  Senatorial  districts  coincided  with  county  lines  until  the  famous  Gerry- 
mander of  1811,  which  confused  the  Federalist  machine  considerably. 

1^  The  multiplicity  of  elections  in  Massachusetts  before  the  Constitutional 
Amendment  of  1831  is  somewhat  confusing.  The  election  day  for  governor 
and  state  senators  was  the  first  Monday  in  April.  State  representatives  could 
be  chosen  at  any  time  "  before  ten  days  before  the  last  Wednesday  in  May  " ;  the 
first  Monday  in  May  was  the  usual  date  in  Boston.  The  last  Wednesday  in 
May,  when  the  governor  was  inaugurated  and  the  legislative  year  began,  was 
known  as  "General  Election,"  or  more  popularly  "Nigger  'lection,"  as  it  was 
the  only  day  in  the  year  on  which  negroes  were  allowed  on  the  Common.  Mem- 
bers of  Congress  and  presidential  electors  were  chosen,  as  now,  early  in  Novem- 
ber. The  list  of  elections  is  further  complicated  by  "Artillery  Election,"  the 
first  Monday  in  June,  a  great  occasion  upon  which  the  Commander  of  the 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  was  chosen  on  the  Common. 


294 


HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 


meeting  a  list  of  state  senators  was  agreed  upon,  and  at 
the  October  meeting,  in  even  years,  a  member  of  Con- 
gress was  nominated,  without,  it  appears,  taking  the 
slightest  notice  of  the  other  towns  that  were  in  the  same 
district  with  Boston.  Again,  in  May,  the  Initial  Caucus 
selected  a  list  of  representatives  for  the  "Boston  Seat"  in 
the  General  Court.  Every  town  had  a  right  to  one  mem- 
ber in  the  lower  house  for  every  225  ratable  polls,  but 
Boston  never  sent  more  than  seven  members  until  1805. 
Up  to  that  year  the  courts  insisted  on  a  literal  applica- 
tion of  the  constitutional  provision  that  "every  member 
of  the  house  of  representatives  shall  be  chosen  by  written 
votes,"  which  made  the  writing  of  ballots  an  onerous 
task.  After  printed  ballots  were  allowed,  the  Initial 
Caucus  availed  itself  of  the  town's  full  privilege,  and 
nominated  annually  between  twenty -seven  and  forty-five 
representatives,  who  were  invariably  elected,  and  con- 
stituted a  welcome  addition  to  the  Federalist  forces  in  the 
General  Court. 

Nominations  made  by  the  Initial  Caucus  were  an- 
nounced in  the  newspapers  as  being  "recommended'* 
from  some  mysterious  source,  and  were  formally  adopted 
by  the  General  or  Grand  Federal  Caucus  at  Faneuil  Hall, 
to  which  every  Federalist  in  town  was  invited,  on  the 
Sunday  evening  before  election  day.  This  was,  however, 
a  mere  matter  of  form ;  the  Grand  Caucus  was  practically 
only  a  political  rally.  The  April  one  was  the  great  occasion 
of  the  year,  and  invariably  the  scene  of  a  brilliant  forensic 
display  by  Otis  and  the  lesser  Boston  orators.  John  Quincy 
Adams  writes  in  his  diary,  under  date  of  April  5, 1807: 

Mr.  Dexter  called  upon  me  this  afternoon.  I  attended  the 
federal  meeting  at  Faneuil  Hall  this  evening.  The  hall  was 
nearly  as  full  as  it  could  hold.  Mr.  Quincy  was  speaking  when 
I  went  in.  Mr.  Otis  and  Mr.  Gore  succeeded  him.  But  there 


I 


THE  FEDERALIST   MACHINE  295 

was  no  diversity  of  opinion.  The  vote  was  put  for  supporting 
Mr.  Strong  as  Governor,  at  the  election  to  morrow,  and  Mr.  Rob- 
bins  as  Lieutenant  Governor,  with  the  last  years  list  of  Sena- 
tors. They  were  all  unanimously  carried.  Walking  home  with 
Mr.  Dexter,  I  was  remarking  upon  the  questionable  nature  of 
this  party  organization,  and  its  tendency  under  our  Constitu- 
tion. It  is  perhaps  unavoidable,  but  it  is  not  altogether  recon- 
cilable to  the  freedom  of  the  elective  principle. 

Only  two  occasions  are  known  of  a  revolt  against  the 
dictation  of  an  Initial  Caucus.  The  first  was  in  1814, 
when  William  H.  Sumner  was  so  nominated  for  Congress. 
A  group  of  the  younger  Federalists,  who  were  becoming 
tired  of  the  old  party  methods,  then  waited  upon  Major 
Russell,  in  whose  paper,  the  Centinel,  the  nomination  had 
been  announced,  and  asked  him  why  they  had  not  been 
consulted.  He  replied:  "If  the  youngmenof  Boston  won't 
step  into  the  traces,  they  must  be  whipped  in ! "  This  was 
enough  for  the  young  men.  They  called  a  separate  caucus, 
nominated  Andrew  Ritchie,  Jr.,  and  presented  his  claims 
with  such  vigor  at  the  Grand  Caucus  that  the  machine 
was  forced  to  bring  in  a  compromise  candidate. ^^  Again, 
in  a  congressional  bye-election  of  1817,  the  Initial  Caucus 
was  called  to  account  by  the  Central  Committee  of  the 
State  for  nominating  Jonathan  Mason,  the  purity  of  whose 
Federalism  was  then  somewhat  in  doubt.  The  Central 
Committee  called  the  Grand  Caucus  earlier  than  usual, 
and  pushed  through  a  new  nomination ;  but  the  members 
of  the  Initial  Caucus,  tenacious  of  their  privilege,  insisted 
that  this  action  was  illegal,  and  ordered  all  true  Federal- 
ists to  vote  for  Mason. ^° 

Election  day  in  Boston  was  an  exciting  affair,  under  the 
old  regime.  The  only  polling  place  was  Faneuil  Hall.  All 

^*  William  H.  Sumner,  History  of  East  Boston,  743;  Boston  papers  for  Novem- 
ber, 1814. 

"  Centinel,  October  29-November  12,  1817;  Niles,  xxiii,  209. 


296  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

day  its  steps  were  lined  with  young  men  of  both  parties, 
offering  to  the  voters  as  they  arrived  written  or  printed 
ballots,  and  taking  a  last  opportunity  to  strengthen  the 
wavering  and  alarm  the  timid.  No  secrecy  was  possible 
under  these  circumstances;  every  man  had  to  show  his 
colors  or  abstain  from  voting,  and  vigilant  ward  commit- 
tees made  life  miserable  for  stay-at-homes.  Otis  was  loath 
to  give  up  the  old  methods  in  1822,  when  the  city  charter 
was  adopted,  in  favor  of  separate  polling  places  in  the 
wards.  Federalist  supremacy,  he  wrote  William  Sullivan, 

depends  upon  the  influence  and  example  of  the  most  respect- 
able persons  in  the  various  walks  and  professions  who  have 
long  been  habituated  to  act  together.  —  The  force  of  these  per- 
sons is  increased  by  the  sympathy  and  enthusiasm  of  numbers, 
and  by  a  feeling  of  shame  or  self  reproach  which  attends  the 
consciousness  of  a  known  dereliction  of  duty —  The  class  which 
is  acted  upon  by  this  example  and  influence  realize  a  pride  and 
pleasure  in  shewing  their  colors  upon  a  general  review,  which 
they  cannot  feel  when  trained  in  a  gun  house.  —  The  old  leaders 
have  learned  the  art  of  giving  a  salutary  impulse  to  the  whole 
body  when  collected  together.  —  This  impulse  ought  to  be  a 
unit,  to  procure  unity  of  action.  —  It  is  easier  to  manage  the 

town  of  B by  a  Lancastrian  system  of  political  discipline 

than  to  institute  numerous  schools.  ^^ 

Judged  by  the  results,  this  "Lancastrian  system"  had 
been  a  complete  success.  While  the  Federal  party  existed, 
Boston  was  its  pocket  borough.  Between  1788  and  1828 
it  never  failed  to  give  a  majority  to  the  Federalist  candi- 
date for  Congress.  A  Democratic  candidate  for  governor 
carried  the  town  only  twice  (1800  and  1801)  between  1797 
and  1825;  and  the  Democratic  ticket  for  the  Boston  Seat 
succeeded  but  once  (1800)  in  the  same  period.  No  wonder, 
then,  that  Federalists  called  stolid  Boston  "The  Head- 
quarters of  Good  Principles." 

"  January  19,  1822.  MS.  collectioQ  of  N.  Y.  Public  Library. 


THE  FEDERALIST  INMCHINE  297 

In  spite  of  the  scurrility  and  personal  abuse  with  which 
newspapers  of  both  parties  were  filled ;  in  spite  of  the  per- 
fervid  speeches  of  night-before  caucuses,  elections  in  New 
England  during  the  Federalist  epoch  were  never  disgraced 
by  disorder  or  violence.  New  England  at  that  time  had 
a  rigid  code  of  etiquette  regarding  political  campaigns, 
which  we  would  do  well  to  return  to  nowadays.  Stump- 
speaking,  spellbinding,  and  whirlwind  tours  were  un- 
known;  political  rallies,  other  than  the  grand  caucuses, 
were  rare;  and  best  of  all,  candidates  were  absolutely  for- 
bidden by  public  opinion  to  canvass  or  electioneer  in  their 
own  behalf.  It  was  even  considered  improper  for  them  to 
make  a  written  denial  of  charges.  Samuel  Dexter,  in  1814, 
apologized  for  publishing  an  explanation  of  his  attitude, 
when  unexpectedly  nominated  by  the  Democrats;  and 
Otis's  friends  dissuaded  him  from  publishing  a  denial  of 
his  opposition  to  war  loans,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for 
governor  in  1823.^''  But  political  conversation  and  news- 
paper campaigning  never  abated  during  the  feverish 
period  between  1807  and  1815.  The  State  Street  insur- 
ance offices  became  informal  political  clubs,  at  which 
leading  Federahsts  would  drop  in  during  the  morning  to 
discuss  the  latest  French  outrage  or  Jacobin  delusion. 
"The  office  of  the  Suffolk  Insurance  Companj^"  writes 
Lucius  Manlius  Sargent,^^  "was  more  noted  for  its  daily 
political  harangues,  than  for  its  semi-annual  di\ddends. . . . 
The  voice  of  Mr.  Parsons,  then  Chief  Justice  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, was  often  heard  in  those  conventicles;  not 
in  his  official  capacity,  of  course,  but  as   the  Magnus 

*''  Mr.  Dextcrs  Address  to  the  Electors  of  Massachusetts  (1814),  1,  9; 
Luetscher,  65;  Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  2d  Ser.,  xiv,  74;  Isaac  Parker  to  Otis, 
January,  1823;  "if  intended  for  the  public  it  [Otis's  vindication]  is  introducing 
a  mode  of  electioneering  wholly  new  to  our  section  of  the  Country  &  one  which, 
as  usual  in  the  southern  states,  has  been  much  condemned  here." 

^*  Reminiscences  of  Samuel  Dexter,  84. 


298  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Apollo  of  the  assembly."  Formal  dinners,  especially  the 
Federalist  Fourth  of  July  dinners,  were  occasions  for  the 
display  of  piquant  political  toasts,  for  which  Otis  was  fa- 
mous. Twenty  formal  toasts,  accompanied  by  a  band  of 
music,  and  (if  the  dinner  were  out  of  doors)  discharges 
of  artillery,  were  not  unusual  on  these  occasions,  and  in- 
formal toasts  followed  until  most  of  the  diners  were  under 
the  table  or  carried  home.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the 
formal  ones  at  the  Federalist  dinner  in  Salem  on  July  4, 
1812,  just  after  war  was  declared: 

July  Jt-th,  1812.  —  We  hail  it  as  the  commencement  of  a  new 
Independence.  ^  ^ 

2  guns.   "Yankee  Doodle." 

Embargo.  —  A  base  retreat,  treacherously  heat,  while  com- 
mercial prosperity  was  in  full  march. 
1  gun.   "Austrian  Retreat." 

Non-Importation.  —  A  vile  measure  calculated  to  introduce 
smuggling,  deprave  the  public  morals,  and  sap  the  foundation 
of  Northern  liberty. 

1  gun.   "Jefferson's  Delight." 

The  Existing  War.  —  The   Child  of  Prostitution,  may  no 
American  acknowledge  it  legitimate. 
1  gun.   "Wapping  Landlady." 

Democratic  Office  Holders:  —  They  draw  double  rations  and 
never  go  on  fatigue  duty  except  on  days  of  election. 
1  gun.   "Faith!  The  world  's  a  good  thing." 

Thos.   Jefferson.  —  May   we   never   cease   to   continue   to 
idolize  the  man  who  copied  off  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
1  gun.   "Dicky  Gossip  is  the  man." 

Physical  and  Moral  Strength.  —  the  state  is  favored  of 
Heaven  which  sees  itself  strong  in  the  field,  strong,  in  the 
cabinet,  and  strong  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

3  guns.   "Gov.  Strongs  March."  2" 

"  No  doubt  a  hint  that  the  author  desired  secession. 
20  Salem  Gazette.  July  7,  1812. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  299 

To  return  to  the  functions  of  the  Central  State  Com- 
mittee, we  find  one  of  its  most  important  duties  was  that 
of  "educating  the  voters."  The  "address  to  the  people," 
which  every  year  filled  the  front  page  of  the  Centinel  in 
the  latter  part  of  March,  was  its  production;  and  in  many 
of  them  I  have  observed  Otis's  mannerisms  of  style.  The 
members  of  the  committee  wrote  political  essays,  and 
stimulated  others  to  express  their  ideas.  Newspapers 
were  more  extensively  employed  as  a  party  weapon  by 
the  Federalists  than  by  their  opponents.  Between  1801  and 
1804,  when  the  party  organization  was  being  established, 
many  of  the  most  famous  party  organs  were  founded,  such 
as  the  Boston  New-England  Palladium,  the  Charleston 
Courier,  and  the  New  York  Evening  Post.  As  late  as  1810 
there  were  Federalist  newspapers  in  every  state,  and  in 
two  of  the  territories;  the  total  number  was  only  two 
less  than  that  of  the  Democratic  journals. ^^  Among 
Otis's  manuscripts  is  a  list  of  northern  New  England 
newspapers,  containing  many  pithy  comments,-^  which 
shows  evidence  of  having  been  compiled  in  1808  for  the 
use  of  the  committee  that  managed  the  presidential  cam- 
paign of  that  year.  When  in  1812,  a  Boston  Federalist 
paper,  the  Weekly  Messenger,  ventured  to  criticize  the 
Federalist  presidential  nomination,  Otis  wrote  William 
Sullivan,  sputtering  with  rage  against  the  "perfidy"  of 
the  editor  "in  thus  perverting  a  paper  set  up  with  great 
pains  trouble  and  expense  by  the  Federal  Party."  The 
Central  Committee,  profiting  by  Josiah  Dwight's  sug- 

21  157  Federalist  (115  in  New  England  and  the  Rliddle  States),  and  159 
Democratic  (87  in  the  same  section).  Isaiah  Thomas,  History  of  Printing  {id 
ed.),  n,  517. 

-2  For  instance:  "The  Watchman,  printed  at  Montpelier,  Vt.  by  Samuel 
Goss.  though  federal  —  this  watchman  appears  to  sleep  on  his  post  —  if 
roused  to  his  duty  and  made  acquainted  with  the  importance  of  his  trust, 
he  may  prove  as  serviceable  to  his  country  as  the  winged  biped  that  saved 
Rome." 


SOO  H.\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

gestion-^  that  pamphlets  reached  a  class  of  readers  who 
refused  to  read  Federalist  newspapers,  circulated  also  that 
sort  of  literature  in  large  quantities.  Christopher  Gore 
wrote  in  the  spring  of  1808  that  five  thousand  copies  of 
Timothy  Pickering's  pamphlet  on  the  Embargo  would  be 
distributed,  an  estimate  which  was  probably  greatly  ex- 
ceeded before  the  campaign  was  over. 

A  standing  grievance  of  both  parties  in  Massachusetts 
was  the  failure  of  remote  or  indifferent  towns  to  elect 
state  representatives,  in  order  to  save  the  expense  of 
salary  and  mileage.  An  interesting  letter  between  two 
of  Otis's  fellow  members  of  the  Central  Committee  ^^ 
shows  that  body  making  every  effort  to  secure  a  full  com- 
plement of  Federalists.  The  results  seem  to  indicate  that 
they  succeeded  fairly  well.-^  The  Democratic  legislature 
of  1811-12  passed  an  act  providing  for  payment  of  mem- 
bers' salaries  by  the  state;  but  this  measure,  which  had 
the  expected  effect  of  securing  more  members  from  re- 
mote Democratic  towns  in  Maine,  raised  the  pay-roll  of 
the  General  Court  eighty-five  per  cent,  and  was  repealed 
by  the  Federalists  as  soon  as  they  returned  to  power. 

The  Federalist  political  organizations  in  New  England 
and  the  Middle  States  possessed  in  the  Washington 
Benevolent  Societies  a  powerful  auxiliary  that  corres- 
ponded to  the  modern  national  party  clubs. ^^  The  first 
society  of  this  name  was  founded  in  New  York  City  in 
1808,  and  probably  acted  as  a  central  organization  to  all 

23  In  his  letter  to  Otis,  following  this  chapter. 

2^  T.  H.  Perkins's  letter,  following  this  chapter. 

2'  The  Chronicle  of  May  26,  1808,  complains  that  Republican  towns  chose 
eighty-seven  less  than  their  full  quota,  but  Federalist  towns  only  twenty  less. 

2^1  am  indebted  for  most  of  my  data  on  this  subject  to  Mr.  Harland  H.  Bal- 
lard, of  Pittsfield,  and  to  his  article,  "A  Forgotten  Fraternity,"  in  the  Pittsfield 
Berkshire  Evening  Eagle,  August  3,  1912.  No  other  historian  has  so  much  as 
mentioned  the  Washington  Benevolent  Societies,  which  are  quite  as  significant 
for  the  Federal  party  as  the  Democratic  clubs  of  1793  for  its  opponents. 


I 


THE  FEDERALIST  ]\L\CHINE  301 

the  others;  it  was  followed  by  the  establishment  of  the 
Washington  Benevolent  Society  of  Berkshire,  at  Pitts- 
field,  in  1811,  and  of  the  Washington  Benevolent  Society 
of  Massachusetts,  at  Boston,  in  February,  1812.  The 
movement  so  quickly  spread  that  within  two  years  almost 
every  town  of  any  size  in  New  England,  and  points  so 
remote  as  Canandaigua  and  Annapolis,  had  established 
branch  societies.  Each  applicant  for  membership  was 
obliged  to  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  to  use  his  exertions  to  preserve  it  "against 
the  inroads  of  despotism,  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  de- 
mocracy,'" and  to  be  faithful  to  "those  political  principles 
which  distinguished  the  Administration  of  Washington." 
He  was  then  given  a  small  pamphlet  containing  Washing- 
ton's Farewell  Address  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  certificate  of  membership  on  the  flyleaf. 

The  objects  of  the  Washington  Benevolent  Society 
were,  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  Massachusetts 
society,  "to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
in  its  original  purity,"  and  "to  supply  the  wants  and 
alleviate  the  sufferings  of  unfortunate  individuals  within 
the  sphere  of  our  personal  acquaintance.""  Undoubtedly 
the  real  object  was  to  strengthen  and  extend  the  Federal 
party,  particularly  among  the  lower  classes,  by  a  social 
bond.  The  society  appealed  to  the  poor,  by  dispensing 
charity, 2^  and  it  greatly  appealed  to  that  most  universal 
of  human  weaknesses,  the  desire  to  belong  to  something. 

"  MS.  records  in  Mass.  Hist.  Society.  William  Sullivan,  the  only  member 
of  a  Washington  Benevolent  Society  to  mention  it  in  his  writings,  states  in  his 
Familiar  Letters  (1834),  325,  that  it  was  a  movemenffor  the  defense  of  society 
and  property,  occasioned  by  the  Baltimore  riots  of  1812,  which,  however,  took 
place  after  the  New  York,  Pittsfield,  Boston,  and  many  other  branches  were 
organized. 

"^^  William  Cobbett  compares  the  Washington  Benevolent  Society  (in  his 
Weekly  Register,  May  13,  1815)  to  the  British  Literary  Fund,  a  scheme  for 
attaching  hack  writers  to  the  government  under  the  garb  of  charity.  A  better 
comparison  would  be  to  the  Primrose  League  of  the  modem  Unionist  Party. 


302  IL\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Its  annual  dues  were  only  a  dollar;  it  had  dinners,  meet- 
ings, elaborate  processions  and  badges,  and  in  that  period 
when  the  wealthy  and  powerful  were  far  more  respected 
and  looked  up  to  than  now,  it  was  a  most  desirable  privi- 
lege to  sit  down  at  table  with  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Josiah 
Quincy,  and  Thomas  Handasyd  Perkins,  and  to  be  hailed 
by  them  as  "brother."  ^^  The  Berkshire  society  had  over 
twenty-three  hundred  members,  and  a  directory  of  the 
Boston  society,  published  in  1813,  contains  over  fifteen 
hundred  names,  half  the  Federalist  vote  of  the  town,  and 
including  men  in  every  walk  of  life.  The  oflBcers  were 
chosen  for  the  most  part  among  the  younger  generation 
of  Federalists.^"  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Jr.,  wassecretarj^at 
one  time,  but  his  father  was  never  an  officer.  An  amusing 
(and  very  rare)  satirical  pamphlet  of  1813,  "The  First 
Book  of  the  'Washington  Benevolents,'  otherwise  called 
the  Book  of  Knaves,"^^  is  dedicated,  among  others,  "To 
the  'Beloved  Harry,'  otherwise  'the  man  of  the  People ' "; 
and  in  "Chapter  vi"  assigns  Harrison  Gray  Otis  the 
following  role  in  the  organization  of  the  Society: 

Now  it  was  far  past  the  going  down  of  the  sun;  and  Harry 
who  was  surnamed  the  "beloved,"  proposed  that  the  council 

^'  Alexander  Hamilton  proposed  in  1802  (Works,  vi,  540-43)  to  strengthen 
the  then  declining  Federal  party  by  establishing  a  "Christian  Constitutional 
Society,"  with  a  central  organization  and  local  branches,  that  should  hold 
meetings,  dispense  charity,  give  instructions  to  mechanics,  and  combine  at 
elections.  Although  the  leaders  to  whom  he  communicated  his  plans  gave  them 
no  encouragement,  the  New  York  founders  of  the  Washington  Benevolent 
Society  were  endeavoring  apparently  to  carry  out  his  ideas.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  President  Taft,  on  November  6, 1912,  expressed  his  hope  to  see  organ- 
ized a  National  Republican  Club  "which  shall  cherish  the  principles  of  the 
party,  and  be  a  source  of  political  activity,  not  only  during  election  years,  but 
at  all  times."   Boston   Herald,  November  7,  1912. 

'°  The  first  board  of  officers  of  the  Boston  society  consisted  of  Arnold  and 
John  Welles,  William  Sullivan,  Josiah  Quincy,  Lemuel  Blake,  Andrew  Ritchie, 
Jr.,  Daniel  Messinger,  Dr.  John  Collins  Warren,  and  Benjamin  Russell. 

''  The  Berkshire  Athenseum  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  has  the  only  copy  of  this 
pamphlet  that  I  have  been  able  to  discover. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  303 

should  make  preparation  for  the  great  feast  of  the  political 
passover. 

2.  Moreover  he  said,  that  albeit  the  name  of  Tory  had 
become  a  bye-word,  and  a  scoff  among  the  people,  he  did  pro- 
pose that  the  tribe  of  the  tories  should  forthwith  be  called 
Washington  Benevolents. 

3.  And  the  council  applauded  Harry  for  his  wisdom,  and 
cried  out  with  one  voice,  who  is  like  unto  the  grand  contriver? 

4.  He  hath  done  wonderful  things!  yea  he  hath  wrought 
miraculously,  and  we  will  praise  him  in  the  gates. 

5.  Verily  he  hath  cast  off  the  reproach  of  his  ancestors,  who 
did  belong  to  the  tribe  of  the  republicans,  and  he  is  a  man  after 
our  own  hearts,  who  like  the  Boston  Rebel  ^-  loveth  GROG 
and  feareth  the  King. 

This  pamphlet  was  published  as  a  take-off  on  the  pom- 
pous ceremonials  in  which  every  Washington  Benevolent 
Society  indulged  on  April  30,  the  anniversary  of  Washing- 
ton's inauguration.  On  the  whole,  however,  these  organ- 
izations were  taken  quite  seriously  by  the  Democrats, 
since  their  grow^th  in  time  of  war  could  be  viewed  only  as 
a  menace.  Charges  of  secret  secessionist  plots  were  fre- 
quently imputed  to  them,  and  in  some  places  vigilance 
associations  were  formed  to  watch  over  the  members. 
But  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  society  had  any 
other  objects  than  those  I  have  stated.  Most  successful 
in  these  respects,  it  greatly  increased  the  strength  and 
solidarity  of  the  Federal  party  during  the  War  of 
1812. 

The  most  interesting  development  of  the  Massachusetts 
Federalist  machine,  on  the  whole,  was  its  cooperation 
with  the  Federalist  organizations  in  other  states  in  calling 
secret  meetings  of  delegates,  in  1808  and  1812,  in  order  to 
nominate  candidates  for  the  presidency  and  vice-presi- 
dency.  These  were  the  first  national  party  conventions 

32  Jolin  Lowell. 


S04  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ever  held.^^  A  peculiar  problem  of  the  Federal  party, 
repeated  in  1808  and  in  1812,  brought  about  this  prema- 
ture appearance  of  the  capstone  to  modern  party  machin- 
ery. In  each  year  an  insurgent  Democrat  —  in  both  cases 
a  Clinton  —  entered  the  presidential  race  with  more  or 
less  of  the  Federalist  policies  as  his  platform.  The  ques- 
tion before  the  Federalists  then  was  whether  to  run  their 
own  candidates,  or,  with  much  greater  chance  of  winning, 
to  back  the  insurgent  already  in  the  field.  Some  method 
was  necessary  to  reach  a  decision  on  this  point  that  would 
be  binding  on  the  whole  party.  A  congressional  caucus 
was  out  of  the  question,  because  the  growing  unpopular- 
ity of  this  method  of  nomination,  as  practiced  by  the 
Republicans,  was  counted  upon  for  political  capital.  A 
conference  of  leaders  from  all  parts  of  the  country  was  the 
natural  alternative. 

Harrison  Gray  Otis  seems  to  have  been  the  originator  of 
this  prototype  of  the  national  nominating  convention. 
He  probably  broached  the  idea  to  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia politicians  during  a  visit  to  those  cities  in  May, 
1808.  Shortly  after  his  return  came  a  letter  from  Charles 
Willing  Hare,^^  of  Philadelphia,  alluding  to  conversations 
with  Otis  and  suggesting  that  it  was  high  time  to  do  some- 
thing about  the  presidential  nomination.  The  hint  was 
taken;  the  Grand  Committee  of  the  Federalist  caucus  in 

3'  I  have  treated  the  1808  convention  at  greater  length  in  "  The  First  Na- 
tional Nominating  Convention,  1808,"  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  xvii,  744,  an  article  in 
which  references  to  statements  made  here  on  that  subject  will  be  found.  The 
sources  used  for  the  1812  convention  are  the  Otis  MSS.,  the  memoirs  of  William 
Sullivan  in  his  Public  Men  of  the  Revolution  (1847),  Rufus  King's  diary  and 
correspondence  in  King,  v,  chap,  xiv;  letters  of  R.  G.  Harper  in  Steiner,  Mc- 
Eenry,  583,  ff.  There  is  also  a  brief  and  inaccurate  article  on  this  subject  in 
Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  i,  680. 

"  1778-1827,  a  prominent  lawyer  and  Federalist  leader  in  Philadelphia;  at 
this  time  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  and  a  candidate  for  Congress.  He 
was  a  relative  of  Otis's  old  Philadelphia  friends,  the  Willings  and  Harrisons,  and 
was  associated  with  him  in  the  management  of  the  Bingham  estate. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  305 

the  General  Court  appointed  a  special  Committee  of 
Correspondence  to  concert  measures  with  the  Federalists 
of  other  states  for  the  approaching  election.  This  com- 
mittee had  a  distinguished  membership:  Otis,  who  was 
the  chairman,  the  venerable  George  Cabot,  Christopher 
Gore,  Timothy  Bigelow  (Speaker  of  the  House),  and 
James  Lloyd,  who  had  just  been  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  in  place  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  All  except 
Otis  were  members  of  the  Essex  Junto,  or  its  tools.  At  a 
meeting  on  June  10,  this  committee  determined  to  call "  a 
meeting  of  Federalists,  from  as  many  states  as  could  be 
seasonably  notified,  at  New  York." 

The  easy  and  informal  method  by  which  the  New  York 
convention  of  1808  was  summoned  was  typically  Federal- 
ist, and  will  no  doubt  be  envied  by  party  leaders  of  to-day. 
The  Massachusetts  Committee  of  Correspondence  imme- 
diately notified  Hare  in  Philadelphia,  and  Rufus  King  in 
New  York,  of  their  decision.  Hare  wrote  Otis  on  June  19, 
as  follows: 

I  received  yours  of  the  11th  on  the  16.  I  immediately  took 
measures  for  convening  a  few  of  our  most  active  firm  and  dis- 
creet friends.  A  Meeting  of  about  a  dozen  was  held  yesterday 
—  at  which  your  objects  and  reasoning  were  stated  —  and  so 
far  as  regards  the  propriety  of  the  proposed  convention,  imme- 
diately and  without  hesitation  acquiesced  in.  A  Committee 
consisting  of  Messrs  Fitzsimons,  R  Wain,  Latimer,  Morgan 
and  myself,  were  appointed  to  correspond  with  you  —  and  in 
obedience  to  your  suggestion  to  'organise  for  the  South.*  We 
shall  immediately  write  to  some  of  our  friends  in  Maryland  and 
Delaware,  and  after  having  heard  from  them  I  shall  again 
address  you. 

Judge  Egbert  Benson  of  New  York,  who  happened  to 
be  in  Boston  shortly  after  the  convention  was  decided 
upon,  communicated  with  the  leading  Federalists  in  Con- 
necticut and  New  Jersey  on  his  way  home,  and  suggested 


306  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

"that  they  should  instantly  associate  to  themselves  such 
persons  as  they  should  think  proper  to  form  a  Committee 
of  Correspondence,"^^  a  method  which  they  doubtless 
followed.  The  Massachusetts  Committee  itself  attended 
to  the  rest  of  New  England,  sending  Otis  and  Bigelow  on 
special  missions  to  the  different  states,  in  order  to  insure 
their  cooperation.  No  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made 
to  secure  delegates  from  Virginia  or  North  Carolina, 
where  Federalism  was  still  strong,  or  from  the  West. 

About  thirty-five  delegates  from  eight  states,^^  chosen 
by  exclusive  committees  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Boston 
types,  met  at  New  York  in  the  third  week  in  August.  The 
very  existence  of  the  convention  was  supposed  to  be  a  pro- 
found secret,  and  no  hint  of  it  was  breathed  by  the  Feder- 
alist journals;  but  the  coming  together  of  so  many  promi- 
nent Federalists  did  not  escape  the  impudent  Democratic 
press.  Among  the  delegates  were  Otis,  Gore,  and  Lloyd 
from  Massachusetts,  Hare  and  Thomas  Fitzsimons  from 
Pennsylvania,  Robert  Goodloe  Harper  from  Maryland, 
and  John  Rutledge  from  South  Carolina.  No  record  as  yet 
has  been  found  of  the  debates.  We  only  know  that  the 
proposed  coalition  with  the  Clintonians  was  rejected, 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney  and  Rufus  King  being 
nominated  for  the  presidency  and  vice-presidency.  The 
question  between  supporting  Clinton  and  making  separate 
nominations  was  so  thoroughly  threshed  out,  however,  in 
Otis's  correspondence,  that  we  may  fairly  assume  the  line 
of  argument  that  prevailed.  Otis  believed  that  it  was 
hopeless  to  expect  the  success  of  a  Federalist  candidate, 
and  that  to  elect  Clinton,  whom  he  strongly  favored, 
would  not  only  dethrone  the  Virginia  dynasty,  but  secure 
the  repeal  of  the  embargo  and  the  abandonment  of  com- 

"  Benson  to  Otis,  July  13,  1808. 

"  See  the  official  notification,  following  this  chapter. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  307 

mercial  restriction.  He  was  supported  by  the  intellectual 
leader  of  the  party,  George  Cabot,  who  saw  that  a  page  of 
democratic  evolution  had  been  turned;  that  the  Federal 
party  had  better  give  up  all  hope  of  capturing  the  presi- 
dency, and  ally  itself  with  the  best  element  among  the 
Democrats.  On  the  other  side,  it  was  argued  in  favor  of 
separate  candidates,  first,  that  Clinton  could  not  be 
trusted.  The  New  York  Federalists  would  have  none  of 
him.  "We  have  condescended  twice  to  tamper  with 
Democratic  Candidates,"  wrote  Abraham  Van  Vechten 
to  Otis,  "and  in  both  instances  have  been  subjected  to 
severe  self-reproach.  .  .  .  Our  experimental  knowledge  of 
the  Clintonian  System  is  a  powerful  Antidote  against 
affording  it  any  facility  here."  Second,  Clinton  could 
not  be  elected  unless  he  could  carry  one  of  the  two  factions 
representing  Pennsylvania  Democracy,  both  of  which 
came  out  for  Madison  before  the  convention  met.  And, 
third,  a  coalition  with  Clinton  would  be  a  great  derelic- 
tion of  principle.  As  Judge  Theodore  Sedgwick  wrote 
Otis  (June  6) : 

It  is  of  infinite  importance  that  the  leading  federalists  should 
conduct  in  such  manner  as  to  convince  the  publick  that  they 
are  actuated  by  principle.  This,  I  imagine,  can  hardly  be  the 
case  unless  they  act  by  themselves,  and  keep  themselves  sepa- 
rate from  the  difierant  parties  into  which  their  adversaries  are 
divided.  ...  I  cannot  endure  the  humiliating  idea  that  those 
who  alone  from  education,  fortune,  character  and  principle  are 
entitled  to  command  should  voluntarily  arrange  themselves 
under  the  banners  of  a  party  in  all  respects  inferior,  and  in  many 
odious,  to  them. 

An  amusing  result  of  the  secret  methods  of  this  conven- 
tion was  the  fact  that  the  Philadelphia  committee,  to 
which  was  confided  the  task  of  announcing  the  nomina- 
tions, did  not  dare  to  make  a  statement.   "We  were  led 


308  H.\RRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

to  this  conclusion,"  they  wrote  to  the  Massachusetts 
committee,  "from  having  observed  something  hke  a  Jeal- 
ousy, in  our  friends  at  having  a  Nomination  so  Important 
decided  on  by  so  small  a  No.  as  we  were,  and  without  any 
Special  authority  for  the  purpose,  for  altho  there  appears 
to  be  no  division  of  sentiment  thr'out  the  state,  as  to  the 
Candidates,  yet  it  was  deemed  most  prudent  that  it  should 
appear  rather  the  result  of  General  sentiment  than  as 
the  Choice  of  a  few  to  bind  their  party."  The  nomina- 
tions were  therefore  given  to  the  Boston  papers,  as  being 
the  result  of  "information  collected  from  every  part  of 
the  Union  .  .  .  without  the  aid  of  any  Caucus,  or  other 
preliminary."  Many  of  the  leading  Federalist  journals 
never  even  published  the  nominations,  but  announced 
that  the  Federalist  electoral  ticket  was  unpledged.  This 
was  probably  due  to  a  desire  in  some  quarters  to  swing 
over  to  Clinton  at  the  last  moment.  Otis,  it  seems, 
favored  this  plan,  and  Theophilus  Parsons  attempted  to 
seduce  the  Connecticut  legislature  into  the  same  course. 
Evidently  the  first  nominating  convention  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  impressing  its  members  with  loyalty  to  its 
decision. 

Again,  in  the  presidential  election  of  1812,  the  Federal 
party  had  to  decide  between  making  separate  nomina- 
tions and  supporting  a  Clinton;  De  Witt  Clinton  having 
come  out  for  the  presidency,  as  his  uncle  George  had  done 
in  1808,  as  a  Democratic  insurgent.  A  Federalist  national 
convention  at  New  Yorkwas  decided  upon  in  June,  1812,^^ 
and  organized,  as  in  1808,  by  irregularly  chosen  commit- 
tees of  correspondence  in  the  several  states. ^^   Otis  was 

"  Cf.  William  Sullivan,  Public  Men,  350,  with  King,  v,  272. 

**  The  Massachusetts  Committee  was  presumably  chosen  by  the  Caucus 
Committee,  as  in  1808.  Otis,  as  chairman,  received  letters  from  a  Philadelphia 
"committee  of  correspondence  and  conference  in  regard  to  the  Presidential 
Election"  (James  Milnor,  Robert  Wharton,  Horace   Binney,  and  Andrew 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  809 

chairman  of  a  committee  which  elected  the  Massachusetts 
delegates,  including  himself,  at  a  meeting  consisting  of 
only  Cabot,  Gore  and  Sullivan. 

The  convention  met  in  New  York  on  September  15, 16, 
and  17,  1812.  About  sixty-five  delegates  were  present 
from  eleven  states,  including  three  (Rhode  Island,  New 
Jersey,  and  Delaware)  that  were  not  represented  in  1808. 
A  brief  diary  that  Rufus  King  kept  of  the  convention,  as 
well  as  the  Otis  correspondence,  shows  the  arguments  of 
1808  being  used  over  again.  Otis  was  still  strongly  in 
favor  of  Clinton,  and  even  refused  to  go  to  New  York 
unless  the  entire  Massachusetts  delegation  pledged  itself 
in  Clinton's  favor.  Besides  the  old  arguments  for  Clinton, 
it  was  urged  that  there  were  no  available  Federalist  can- 
didates. John  Jay  and  Chief  Justice  Marshall  were  men- 
tioned, but  as  Samuel  Dexter  observed, ^^  the  former, 
superannuated  and  unpopular,  "could  no  more  play 
president  than  Seneca  could  Emperor,"  and  the  latter 
was  needed  in  the  Supreme  Court.  In  addition,  De  Witt 
Clinton  had  promised  to  administer  the  government,  if  he 
were  elected,  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the  Federalists, 
and  to  sue  for  peace  with  Great  Britain. ^°  But  Rufus 
Ejng,  unconvinced  by  these  assurances,  dilated  upon 
Clinton's  unscrupulousness  and  vacillation  in  recent  years, 
and  declared  that  his  election  would  merely  substitute 
Caesar  Borgia  for  James  Madison.  His  speech  produced, 
according  to  William  Sullivan,  a  deadlock  between  Clin- 

Baj'ard),  appointed  "at  a  meeting  of  Delegates  from  the  several  wards  of  this 
city";  from  a  similar  New  York  committee  consisting  of  Jacob  Radcliff, 
Caleb  S.  Riggs,  J.  O.  Hoffman,  David  B.  Ogden,  and  John  Welles;  from  Judge 
Griffith,  of  New  Jersey,  where  a  committee  of  correspondence  was  appointed  by 
a  Federalist  state  convention  that  met  on  July  4;  and  from  Joseph  Pearson, 
of  North  Carolina. 

^^  To  Otis,  in  letter  following  this  chapter.  C.  C.  Pinckney  refused  again  to 
be  the  candidate. 

*"  See  Hoffman's  letter  to  Otis,  following  this  chapter,  and  King,  v,  268-70. 


310  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

ton's  friends  and  enemies,  which  lasted  until  the  conven- 
tion was  about  to  break  up  without  result,  when 

Mr.  Otis  arose,  apparently  much  embarrassed,  holding  his 
hat  in  his  hand,  and  seeming  as  if  he  were  almost  sorry  he  had 
arisen.  Soon  he  warmed  with  the  subject,  his  hat  fell  from  his 
hand,  and  he  poured  forth  a  strain  of  eloquence  that  chained 
all  present  to  their  seats;  and  when,  at  a  late  hour,  the  vote 
was  taken,  it  was  almost  unanimously  resolved  to  support 
Clinton.  This  effort  was  unprepared,  but  only  proves  how 
entirely  Mr.  Otis  deserves  the  reputation  he  enjoys  of  being  a 
great  orator.  ^^ 

It  is  a  pity  to  spoil  this  dramatic  picture,  but  unfortu- 
nately more  trustworthy  sources  than  William  Sullivan's 
memory  thirty-five  years  after  the  event  show  that  Otis's 
speech,  powerful  though  it  undoubtedly  was,  failed  to 
produce  so  definite  a  result  as  the  nomination  of  De  Witt 
Clinton.  The  convention  adjourned  after  passing  a  set  of 
ambiguous  resolutions  that  left  the  delegates  in  a  state 
of  muddled  incertitude.  It  was  voted,  according  to  Rufus 
King's  diary,  (l)  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  nominate 
Federalist  candidates;  (2)  that  such  candidates  should  be 
supported  "as  would  be  likely  to  pursue  a  different  course 
of  measures  from  that  of  the  now  President,"  and  (3) 
"that  a  committee  of  5  persons  (Pennsylvanians)  be  ap- 
pointed to  ascertain  the  results  of  the  elections  for  Elec- 
tors, and  the  Candidates  whom  they  would  be  likely  to 
support,  and  to  communicate  the  same  as  expeditiously  as 
practicable  to  the  Electors  of  the  several  States."  No  two 
members  seemed  to  be  agreed  as  to  the  precise  meaning 
that  these  resolves  were  intended  to  convey. ^^  In  most  of 

*i  Public  Men  of  the  Revolution,  351. 

^2  Harper  thought  that  they  did  not  preclude  the  possibiHty  of  bringing  in  a 
Federalist  candidate  {McHenry,  586);  King,  that  they  committed  the  party  to 
Clinton;  George  Tibbits,  of  New  York,  was  so  uncertain  as  to  write  Otis  for  his 
opinion.   If  the  third  resolution  were  carried  out  literally,  the  Federalists  and 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  311 

the  states,  however,  a  "Clintonian"  or  "Peace"  ticket 
of  electors  was  supported  by  both  Clintonian  Democrats 
and  Federalists. 

These  earliest  of  national  conventions  in  1808  and  1812 
were  typical  of  the  Federal  party.  A  few  well-born  and 
congenial  gentlemen,  who  could  afford  the  time  and  ex- 
pense of  travel,  were  chosen  by  their  friends  to  settle,  in  a 
quiet  and  leisurely  manner,  the  matter  of  nominations. 
From  the  body  of  voters  neither  authority  nor  advice  was 
asked,  and  profound  secrecy  sheltered  the  convention's 
deliberations  from  vulgar  scrutiny.  Like  the  Federalist 
state  machinery  that  we  have  examined,  the  two  New 
York  conventions  were  based  on  the  right  of  the  leaders 
to  settle  party  matters  without  the  slightest  cooperation 
of  the  people.  Of  the  voter,  obedience  only  is  required;  he 
is  to  vote  for  candidates  nominated  he  knows  not  how, 
because  it  is  thought  best  by  "those  who  alone  from 
education,  fortune,  character,  and  principle  are  entitled 
to  command." 

Many  will  dispute  the  claim  of  these  secret  and  exclu- 
sive meetings  in  New  York  to  be  classed  with  the  modern 
national  party  conventions.  There  is  not  much  outward 
resemblance,  to  be  sure,  but  they  are  alike  in  the  essen- 
tials: both  were  composed  of  delegates,  chosen  for  the 
purpose  of  nominating  presidential  candidates,  and  both 
were  national  in  their  scope.  Furthermore,  the  modern 
convention  system,  popular  in  theory,  has  proved  quite  as 
susceptible  to  boss  rule  as  the  old  Federalist  machine, 
which  was  frankly  created  for  that  purpose.  I  appeal  for 
authority  to  an  observation  of  our  most  acute  political 

Clintonians  could  not  have  combined  on  electoral  tickets.  As  in  1808,  the  Fed- 
eralists attempted  to  keep  the  convention  secret,  but  the  National  Intelligencer 
published  an  accoimt  of  it,  stating  the  main  facts  correctly,  and  adding  that  a 
bargain  had  been  made  with  Clinton  during  the  sessions.  Otis  denied  that  in  an 
indignant  public  letter.  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  October  20,  23,  1812. 


312  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

seer,  Mr.  Dooley :  "A  naytional  convintion,  me  boy,  does 
nawthin'  excipt  whin  it  ain't  in  session.  In  manny  a 
private  room  th'  destinies  iv  this  nation  is  bein'  dis- 
cussed be  level-headed  statesmen  far  frum  th'  tumult  an' 
th'  mob." 

LETTERS  ON  PARTY  MATTERS,   1805-1812 

JOSIAH  DWIGHT  TO  THE  FEDERALIST  CENTRAL  COMMITTEE 

Stockbridge,  Nov  18  —  1805 
Gentlemen 

You  have  heretofore  invited  communication  from  your 
political  brethren  in  the  interior,  whenever  they  should  have 
any  thing  worthy  of  observation.  The  times  with  us  are,  at 
present,  as  they  have  been  for  sometime  past,  very  little  dis- 
turbed with  the  jargon  of  political  Discord.  Not  that  the  spirit 
of  Jacobinism  is  laid  asleep.  But,  after  being  wearied  with  the 
tug  of  an  electioneering  campaign,  both  hostile  parties  seem 
glad  of  an  opportunity  to  retire  from  the  field,  &  enjoy  the 
repose  of  a  temporary  truce.  In  the  meantime  each  party  main- 
tains his  own  ground  —  no  terms  of  mediation  are  proposed  — 
nor  are  any  offers,  of  permanent  peace,  made  on  either  side. 
Each  flatters  himself  that  he  is  gaining  new  strength,  which 
will  enable  him  to  attack  his  enemy  with  renewed  vigor,  and 
either,  on  one  side,  ensure  a  more  complete  victory,  or,  on  the 
other,  save  him  from  a  viore  disgraceful  defeat.  That  we  must 
again,  in  this  section  of  the  State,  be  defeated  by  numbers, 
cannot  be  a  subject  of  doubt.  But  we  are  of  opinion  that  the 
Jacobins  cannot  add  an  Unit  to  their  former  majority,  and  we 
are  not  without  hopes  of  a  very  considerable  reduction.  To 
effect  this  desideratum,  however,  judicious  means  are  to  be 
used.  The  moderate  Democrats  are  staggered  with  recent 
events  in  Pennsylvania  &  elsewhere,  but  they  cannot  at  once 
be  induced  to  detach  their  confidence  from  our  great  political 
Demagogue,  in  whom  they  have  so  long  put  their  trust.  Infor- 
mation must  be  disseminated  among  them.  This  cannot  be 
done  through  the  medium  of  Federal  newspapers.  This  class  of 
people  have  had  their  prejudices  wrought  up  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  believe  that "  their  touch  is  poison."  The  measure  adopted 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  313 

the  last  Spring  of  circulating  Pamphlets,  we  think  the  only 
measure  which  can  promise  success.  Men,  who  would  not  look 
into  a  Newspaper,  will  read  a  pamphlet  with  attention.  Altho' 
for  the  want  of  time,  we  had  very  little  chance  to  give  them 
a  general  circulation,  yet  we  are  confident  that  they  had  a 
partial  effect  on  the  last  Spring  election.  We  therefore  take  the 
liberty  to  suggest  the  importance  of  immediately  commencing 
a  work  of  that  kind,  and  issuing,  at  least,  one  number  a  month, 
from  this  time  to  April,  We  would  not,  however,  be  thought  to 
assume  a  dictatorial  authority  over  gentlemen  far  more  com- 
petent than  ourselves,  and  whose  means  of  information,  in  the 
Metropolis,  are  much  superior  to  ours,  in  a  remote  corner  of 
the  State.  Altho'  we  have  no  doubt  of  the  efficacy  of  the 
measures  proposed,  in  this  District,  still  if  such  effect,  on  the 
State  at  large,  is  dubious,  we  cannot  expect  it  will  be  adopted. 
But  if  resort  is  at  all  to  be  had  to  such  measure,  you  will  pardon 
us  for  saying  that,  unless  it  be  carried  into  operation  at  an 
earlier  day  than  it  was  the  last  season,  a  very  limited  &  partial 
effect,  only,  can  be  expected.  Whereas  if  the  means  of  communi- 
cating information  to  the  deluded,  are  seasonably  adopted,  & 
pursued  with  unremitted  exertion,  during  the  time  which  inter- 
venes the  election,  we  flatter  ourselves  that  much  may  be 
gained. 

Your  Committee,  in  this  District,  have  holden  a  meeting  & 
are  organised  agreeable  to  the  recommendation  in  your  letter 
of  the  13th  June.  The  undersigned  has  the  honor  of  being 
appointed  "  to  receive  all  communications  "  from  the  central 
Committee.  The  mode  of  communication  may  be,  either  by 
mail,  via  Springfield  —  or  by  private  conveyance,  either  to 
this  place,  or  to  Northampton,  to  the  care  of  Capt  William 
Edwards,  who  will  forward  to  this  Town. 

You  may  rely.  Gentlemen,  on  our  cordial  cooperation  in  any 
measures  you  may  in  your  wisdom  devise,  for  the  preservation 
of  our  Constitution  &  Government  from  the  despoiling  hands  of 
Jacobins.  I  am,  Gentlemen,  In  behalf  of  the  Committee, 
Very  Respectfully  Your  Obedt  Servt 

JOSIAH   DWIGHT 

The  Gentlemen  of  the 

C  Committee 
[Address];  Hon  Harrison  G  Otis  Esqr 


314  ILVRRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Official  Notification  of  the  Result  of  the  Federalist 
National  Convention  of  1808 

Manuscript  copy  sent  Otis  by  the  New  York  Committee  of  Corresponience, 
October  9,  1808 

To  the  Federal  Republican  Committee  [of] 
Charleston,  South  Carolina 
[New  York,  September,  1808] 

Gentlemen, 

We  do  ourselves  the  Honor  of  addressing  you,  in  behalf  of 
the  Federal  corresponding  Committee  of  this  State,  in  respect 
to  the  approaching  Presidential  Election.  Several  Conferences 
on  this  subject  have  recently  been  held  in  this  City,  but  from 
Reasons  of  Expediency,  it  has  hitherto  been  judged  proper  to 
withold  any  Communications  concerning  the  same.  We  feel 
great  Satisfaction  in  now  being  authorized  to  announce  to  you 
the  Result. 

The  States  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut, 
Vermont,  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  were  sever- 
ally represented  at  those  Deliberations,  as  was  likewise  the 
State  of  South  Carolina  by  our  respected  Friend  John  Rutledge, 
Esquire  of  your  City."*^ 

After  several  Meetings,  and  after  the  most  mature  and 
dispassionate  Consideration  of  the  Subject,  we  formed  a  con- 
clusive opinion,  as  to  the  Line  of  Conduct  most  proper  for  the 
Federal  Party  to  observe.  It  was  decided  to  be  our  Correct  and 
dignified  Policy  to  afford  neither  Aid  nor  Countenance,  direct 
or  indirect,  to  any  of  our  political  opponents,  but,  holding 
ourselves  perfectly  distinct,  to  nominate  Federal  Characters 
for  the  offices  of  President  and  Vice  President,  and  to  support 
them,  with  our  uniform,  zealous  &  vigorous  Exertions.  This 
Determination,  which  we  conceived  best  calculated  to  promote 
the  good  of  our  Country  —  to  concentrate  the  Activity  and 
Affections  of  our  Party  —  to  secure  its  Integrity,  and  to  give 
Energy  to  its  Efforts,  has  likewise  received  the  Approbation  of 
our  Friends  of  New  Jersey  and  Delaware. 

^'  From  Otis's  correspondence  it  appears  that  Rhode  Island  was  unable  to 
send  a  delegate,  because  no  one  could  be  spared  from  the  state  campaign  that 
was  then  going  on,  and  that  Delaware  was  unrepresented  because  James  A. 
Bayard  disapproved  of  the  meeting. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  315 

Having  decided  on  the  Measure,  no  difference  of  opinion 
could  exist  as  to  the  Selection  of  Candidates,  &  Charles  Cotes- 
worth  Pinckney  for  the  Office  of  President,  and  Rufus  King  for 
the  office  of  Vice  President,  became  without  the  least  Hesitation 
our  Choice.  In  our  Deliberations,  we  were  governed  by  a  calm 
and  unbiassed  View  of  the  State,  to  which  our  Country  is 
reduced,  by  the  rash,  though  imbecile  Measure  of  the  Party 
now  in  Power.  We  perceived  the  energies  of  the  Nation 
paralized;  —  Its  Commerce  suspended;  —  its  Revenue  nearly 
annihilated;  —  its  most  valuable  Resources  abandoned,  and 
its  Councils  under  the  humiliating  Influence  of  a  foreign  Power. 
Under  such  awful  and  hazardous  Circumstances  we  felt  a 
solemn  Conviction  that  the  Safety,  Dignity,  and  Independence 
of  our  Union,  demanded  an  immediate  and  radical  Change  in 
the  Administration  of  its  Government.  .  .  . 

With  the  States  of  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  we  have 
no  means  of  Communication.  We  have  been  informed,  that  a 
few  Votes  may  be  secured  in  those  States  by  the  Attention  of 
Influential  Characters  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  This 
Suggestion  is  respectfully  submitted  to  the  Consideration  of 
our  Friends  in  Charleston  —  Urging  and  entreating  them  to 
lose  no  Time  in  adopting  every  proper  and  effectual  Measure 
for  communicating  with  those  States,  and  to  spare  no  Exer- 
tions to  secure  to  our  Candidates  at  least  a  Portion  of  the  Votes 
of  those  States.  We  also  rely  with  Confidence  on  your  Atten- 
tion to  our  Friends  in  North  Carolina  —  their  Distance  pre- 
vents any  safe  and  timely  Correspondence  with  them  on  our 
Part.  .  .  . 

We  shall  be  Happy,  Gentlemen,  to  receive  an  Acknowledge- 
ment of  the  Receipt  of  this  Letter,  and  such  Information  as  you 
may  think  proper  to  communicate,  which  we  trust  will  be  as 
full  &  particular,  as  Circumstances  will  permit. 

We  are.  Gentlemen,  very  respectfully 
[Jacob  Radcliff 
Jos:  Ogden  Hoffman 
Cadwallader  D.  Colden 
S.  Jones  Junr.]^'' 

**  Signatures  to  the  letter  from  the  New  York  committee  to  Otis,  in  which 
this  letter  was  enclosed. 


316  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

THOMAS   HANDASTD   PERKINS   TO    WILLIAM   SULLIVAN 

From  the  Manuscript  Collection  of  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

Tuesday  Eve  —  [May  10,  1811] " 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  just  now  learned  from  Bridgwater  that  the  federalists 
are  making  overtures  to  send  five  Members  to  the  Legislature 
—  they  sent  from  that  town  One  Demo  last  year,^^ 

Mr.  Wm.  Davis  thinks  we  had  best  send  our  Ambassador  — 
I  have  therefore  engaged  a  Mr.  Withington,  a  very  ardent 
federalist  &  who  formerly  resided  there,  to  get  off  to-morrow 
at  1 1  o'clock  to  visit  the  leaders  there  —  and  to  whom  we  must 
address  a  letter,  stating  the  importance  it  is  to  the  issue  that 
they  should  pursue  the  plan  which  we  understand  they  have  in 
agitation  of  sending  five  members  —  recommending  unwearied 
exertions.  Will  you  write  and  sign  six  letters  to  the  Gentlemen 
whose  names  are  below  and  send  them  to  my  store  by  11  o'clock 
tomorrow. 

You  know  how  to  address  them  to  produce  the  best  effect  — 
I  will  get  Sargent  to  sign  and  will  do  so  myself.  You  have  had 
much  to  do,  but  I  trust  you  will  be  fully  remunerated. 

Yrs. 
T  H  Perkins 

Honle  Mr  Baylis 
Nahum  Mitchell  Esq 
General  Lazell 
Nathan  Lazell  Esq 
Honbl.  Judge  Howard 
Dr.  Orr. 

JOSIAH   OGDEN   HOFFMAN  ^^   TO   OTIS 

[New  York],  July  17,  1812. 
My  D  Sir, 

I  have  had  a  very  full  &  satisfactory  conversation  with  the 
Gentleman,^ ^  alluded  to,  in  your  Letter.    He  was  not  only 

*^  Sullivan's  endorsement. 

"  Marginal  comment  by  Sullivan:  "Difference  six  !  !  !" 
"  A  Federalist  leader  in  New  York  City,  father  of  Ogden  and  of  Charles 
Fenno  Hoffman. 
"  De  Witt  Clinton. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  317 

explicit  on  all  great  points,  but  unsolicited  by  me,  declared, 
there  should  be  no  distinction  in  selecting  his  Agents  &c.  Every 
thing  is  doing  that  he  and  his  friends  can  do  —  and  on  Monday 
or  Tuesday  next,  he  will  refer  me  to  Names  in  your  quarter. 
Hitherto  our  conferences  have  been  entirely  confined  to  our- 
selves —  but  in  a  few  days,  he  will  declare  himself  explicitly  to 
at  least  three  of  our  friends.  This  step,  without  the  least 
hesitation,  he  acceded  to,  —  indeed  it  was  necessary  for  the 
union  of  our  friends  here.  The  Measure  however  is  to  have  no 
publicity,  but  the  Opinion  of  the  Gentlemen  selected  is  to  be 
deemed  authoritative  and  to  have  the  force  of  ascertained  facts. 
I  cannot  detail  to  you  in  a  Letter  all  that  passed.  The  Offers 
made  to  him  to  withdraw  his  pretensions,  even  within  the  last 
six  days,  have  been  of  the  most  alluring  kind.  They  were 
rejected  with  promptitude  and  disdain.  His  course  of  reason- 
ing as  to  his  future  conduct  exactly  corresponds  with  that 
suggested  in  your  Letter.  On  us  &  us  only  he  in  future  could 
depend. 

I  have  received  Letters  from  Philadelphia.  Our  friends  there 
and  in  Jersey  will  be  prepared  to  act  with  us.  It  is  not  improb- 
able, I  shall  go  to  Philadelphia  for  a  day  or  so,  in  the  course  of 
two  or  three  Weeks.  South-Carolina  &  North-Carolina  ought 
to  be  attended  to.  Our  friends  ought  to  be  addressed  in  these 
States.  You  can  do  more  in  Boston  there,  than  we  can.  In 
short  we  must  be  united. 

I  have  some  doubts  at  present  of  the  expediency  of  a  Con- 
vention. My  fear  is  our  Object  might  be  misrepresented.  We 
shall  appoint  a  corresponding  Committee  next  week,  and  our 
Letters  will  go  to  our  friends  through  the  U.  States.  You  ought 
to  do  the  same,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think,  the  Correspondence 
with  us,  had  best  commence  on  your  part  —  and  the  sooner 
the  better.  I  am  obliged  to  write  in  great  Haste.  I  am,  D  Sir 

Respectfully  Your  friend 
J.  O.  H. 


318  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

OTIS   TO   WILLIAM   SULLIVAN 

From  the  Manuscript  Collection  of  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

Watertown,  August  17— [1812] 
My  dear  Sir, 

The  rain  is  so  excessive  that  I  cannot  go  to  town.  My  pres- 
ence at  12,  on  a  certain  subject  is  not  necessary,  as  you  are  so 
well  possessed  of  my  opinions,  that  we  have  no  other  alterna- 
tive but  to  support  D  W.  C[linton]. 

As  our  friends  propose  a  convention,  it  may  be  indispensable 
to  accede  to  the  suggestion  —  I  earnestly  pray  I  may  not  be  a 
delegate,  having  many  engagements  at  home.  But  in  any 
event  I  should  absolutely  decline  unless  it  is  understood,  that 
we  go  to  promote  his  election.  I  should  not  choose  to  go  to  N 
York,  and  there  find  myself  differing  from  my  colleagues  — 

Permit  me  to  suggest  that  I  think  Col.  Thorndike  would  be 
a  very  proper  person  for  this  commission.  Mr.  Gore  vnll  I 
presume  be  also  one  —  In  fact,  as  they  will  have  the  privilege 
of  paying  their  own  expenses,  there  being  no  shot  in  the  Locker, 
I  can  perceive  no  objection  to  a  dozen.  Perhaps  it  would  be 
also  advisable  to  let  the  Hampshire  people  know  that  they  may 
send  one  or  more  but  the  affair  should  be  confidential.  I  think 
Jackson  and  yourself  would  do  for  want  of  better  fellows. 

Yours  very  truly 
H.  G.  O. 

I  shall  be  in  tomorrow  if  I  can  hire  a  boat. 

Pray  send  me  news  by  bearer. 

[The  following,  written  in  pencil  in  Sullivan's  hand  on  a  blank 
page  of  the  letter,  is  evidently  a  record  of  the  committee  meeting 
that  elected  the  delegates  to  New  York.] 
Aug.  18,  1812. 

G.  C[abot] 
C.  G[ore] 
C.  J[ackson] 
H.  G.  0[tis] 
W.  P[rescott] 
W.  S[ullivan] 
I.  P.49 


Voted —  that  D.  W.  C.  be  supported 


**  Christopher  Gore  states  in  a  letter  of  October  5, 1812,  to  Rufus  King  (King, 
V,  283),  that  only  Cabot,  Sullivan,  and  himself  were  present  at  this  meeting. 
The  others  mentioned  here  must  have  voted  by  proxy. 


THE  FEDERALIST  MACHINE  319 

That  Hon  C.  Gore  Esq. 
H.  G.  Otis 
I.  Thorndike 
C.  Jackson 
W.  Sullivan 
S.  Putnam 
and  somebody  from  Hampshire  [County  be]  chosen. 

SAMUEL   DEXTER   TO   OTIS 

Boston  12th  Sept.  1812. 
Dear  Sir, 

Some  days  ago  Mr.  Joy  mentioned  that  you  were  so  kind  as 
to  express  a  wish  that  I  would  join  you  in  N.  York.  On  exam- 
ining the  state  of  my  engagements  I  find  it  would  produce 
great  derangement  in  my  business;  &  as  I  have  no  belief  that 
any  important  purpose  could  be  attained  by  it  I  have  declined 
the  Journey,  yet  not  without  reluctance  as  I  find  Mr.  Joy  &  Mr. 
Sullivan  persevere  in  suggesting  that  it  might  be  verj^  useful. 
My  opinions  are  of  no  great  value,  but  I  have  no  objection  to 
stating  them.  The  principal  difficulty  is  said  to  be  a  disposition 
in  some  gentlemen  to  set  up  a  federal  candidate.  When  Piso 
conspired  against  Nero  it  was  proposed  to  make  Seneca 
Emperor;  to  this  two  objections  of  some  weight  appeared,  1st 
that  it  was  not  possible  to  make  a  sufficient  party  to  put  him 
in;  &  2dly  that  if  he  were  in  he  could  not  stay  a  moment  in 
office,  such  was  the  state  of  public  manners.  Gov.  Jay  could  no 
more  play  President  than  Seneca  could  Emperor.  The  great 
object  is  to  prevent  our  annihilation  as  a  commercial  Nation. 
It  is  to  me  of  little  importance  whether  the  rulers  be  of  one 
party  name  or  another.  Every  expedient  will  of  necessity  be 
temporary  &  only  a  choice  of  evils.  Such  indeed  is  Government 
itself.  The  great  question  is  how  can  we  escape  with  as  little 
suffering  as  possible  &  for  as  long  as  possible.  If  these  objects 
can  best  be  obtained  by  a  coalition  with  a  portion  of  the  oppo- 
site party  why  should  pride  or  passion  prevent  it?  An  honor- 
able peace  is  the  present  object;  &  I  hope  the  Country  can  bear 
it  &  the  prosperity  that  might  attend  it.  Tho'  sometimes  I 
indulge  gloom  eno'  to  think  that  we  are  so  corrupt  as  to  need 
war.   Everything  that  ought  to  be  honorable  in  our  Country 


320  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

seems  to  be  at  market  as  much  as  butcher's  meat.  To  allude 
to  the  Roman  history  once  more;  when  no  formidable  enemy 
remained  corruption  made  them  a  fit  prey  for  barbarians.  While 
they  were  warlike  they  suffered,  but  they  were  magnanimous. 
The  Greeks  produced  patriots,  for  posterity  to  admire,  in  the 
midst  of  War  &  Revolution.  They  have  left  a  blaze  of 
light  behind  them,  but  it  was  because  their  Country  was  on 
fire.  I  find  I  am  only  preaching.  It  is  more  easy  to  say  what  I 
do  not  want  than  what  I  do.  I  promised  that  I  would  write  & 
I  have  performed  my  engagement. 

Yours  very  truly 
Sam.  Dexteb 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Jefferson's  embargo 

1807-1808,  ^T.  42-43 

After  the  Chesapeake  incident,  JeflFerson  lost  the  only 
chance  of  declaring  war  against  Great  Britain,  when  such 
a  war  would  have  secured  unanimous  support.  Looking 
back  on  1807  from  a  period  of  Hague  conferences  and  arbi- 
tration treaties,  Jefferson's  moderation  and  restraint  at 
that  trying  period  seems  most  commendable.  But  the 
sequel  proved  that  none  of  his  expedients  could  prevent 
a  war,  which  might  far  better  have  come  in  1807,  with  the 
entire  nation  up  in  arms  over  the  insult  to  its  flag,  than  in 
1812,  after  one  section  of  the  Union  had  been  led  by  four 
years  of  commercial  restriction  into  an  attitude  of  violent 
disaffection.  Instead  of  commencing  reprisals  or  encour- 
aging the  war  spirit,  Jefferson  issued,  on  July  2, 1807,  a  pro- 
clamation closing  American  ports  to  British  men-of-war, 
and  expressing  his  confidence  that  Great  Britain  would 
apologize  for  the  Leopard's  action.  The  British  government 
did  acknowledge  its  fault,  though  somewhat  ungraciously, 
and  sent  a  special  envoy  to  the  United  States  to  make 
reparation  for  the  damage  done,  but  with  such  conditions 
attached  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  Jefferson  to  accept 
the  offer. 

Before  this  envoy  arrived,  European  affairs  assumed 
an  aspect  even  more  alarming  for  the  United  States  than 
before.  It  became  evident  that  the  British  government  and 
Napoleon  had  determined  that  there  should  be  no  more 
neutrals.  In  September,  1807,  Copenhagen,  the  capital  city 
of  a  neutral  nation,  was  bombarded  by  a  British  fleet,  and 


322  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

Denmark  forced  to  surrender  its  fleet,  simply  in  order  to 
prevent  its  falling  into  the  hands  of  France.  The  lesson 
was  as  applicable  to  the  United  States  as  had  been  the 
overthrow  of  Venice  and  Switzerland  in  the  Federalist 
period.  Already  the  Orders  in  Council  of  England  and 
the  Decrees  of  Napoleon  had  narrowed  to  a  minimum  the 
scope  of  trade  permitted  to  neutrals.^  In  December,  1807, 
information  arrived  of  a  new  and  sweeping  Order  in 
Council,  forbidding  all  direct  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  continental  Europe,  unless  the  cargo  should 
first  be  landed  in  Great  Britain  and  pay  duty.  Five  days 
later  came  an  official  notice  of  the  King's  proclamation  of 
October  17,  requiring  naval  officers  to  exercise  the  right 
of  impressment  to  its  fullest  extent.  This  was  adding 
insult  to  the  injury  of  the  Chesapeake  affair. 

Jefferson  felt  that  the  moment  had  come  for  prompt  and 
vigorous  action,  both  to  protect  American  shipping  and 
sailors,  and  to  coerce  the  two  powerful  belligerents  into 
abandoning  their  anti-neutral  systems.  He  had  no  desire 
for  war.  It  was  an  opportunity  to  try  an  experiment  he 
had  dreamed  of  for  years,  —  the  appealing  to  Europe's 
self-interest  by  prohibiting  commercial  intercourse  with 
it.  At  his  dictation,  the  Republican  majority  in  Congress 
passed  the  famous  Embargo  Act,  which  from  December 
22,  1807,  until  March  4, 1809,  forbade  the  American  mer- 
chant marine  to  engage  in  foreign  commerce,  and  placed 
burdensome  restrictions  on  coastwise  traffic. 

Jefferson  intended  the  embargo  to  be  the  crowning 
measure  of  his  administration ;  it  remains  as  the  typical 
example  of  his  theoretical  statesmanship.  Theoretically, 
embargo  was  a  perfect  substitute  for  war,  without  the 

1  Napoleon's  Berlin  Decree  of  December  10, 1806,  declaring  the  British  Isles 
to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade,  was  applied  to  American  vessels  after  August,  1807. 
The  British  Orders  in  Council  of  January  7,  1807,  forbade  to  neutrals  coastwise 
commerce  between  ports  belonging  to  Napoleon  or  his  allies. 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  323 

attendant  cost  and  loss  of  life;  theoretically,  it  would  at 
once  protect  vessels  and  produce  from  capture,  and  inflict 
such  hardships  on  the  two  belligerents  as  to  force  them 
into  compliance  with  our  demands  to  observe  the  inter- 
national law  of  neutrality.  Practically,  the  embargo 
proved  the  greatest  failure  of  any  political  experiment 
ever  tried  in  the  United  States.  It  protected  ships,  but 
destroyed  commerce;  it  produced  no  effect  whatever  on 
either  belligerent,  but  threw  the  carrying  trade  into  other 
hands ;  it  was  enforcible  only  by  measures  which  violated 
popular  ideas  of  liberty.  Worst  of  all,  it  caused  such  eco- 
nomic distress  in  New  England  as  to  revive  the  decadent 
power  of  Federalism  in  that  section,  and  to  throw  the 
Federal  party  into  the  arms  of  the  Essex  Junto. 

The  Federal  party  had  experimented  with  a  temporary 
embargo  in  Washington's  second  administration,  and 
rejected  it  as  a  failure.  When  it  was  again  proposed,  in 
1798,  to  offset  the  French  spoliations,  Otis  declared : 

A  general  Embargo  would  not  protect  either  our  commerce 
or  navigation,  but  destroy  both.  ...  A  partial  Embargo  upon 
our  own  vessels,  while  it  puts  an  end  to  our  navigation,  would 
materially  affect  our  commerce,  and  all  that  remains  would  be 
carried  on  by  the  belligerent  nations  or  by  neutrals,  under 
great  additional  charges  and  expenses.^ 

These  predictions  were  amply  fulfilled  in  1808,  and  espe- 
cially in  Massachusetts,  where  over  one  third  of  the 
tonnage  of  the  United  States  was  owned,  and  where  the 
shipbuilding  and  cod-fishing  industries  almost  wholly 
concentrated.  Its  lucrative  carrying  trade  was  entirely  de- 
stroyed, except  for  those  vessels  which  happened  to  be 
abroad  at  the  time  the  embargo  was  laid;  and  the  ship- 
building industry  was  completely  tied  up.  It  was  useless 
to  tell  the  shipowners  that  the  embargo  was  for  their  own 

2  Letter  to  the  Hon.  William  Heath  (1798),  17. 


324  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

protection,  since  the  Orders  in  Council  had  left  loopholes 
for  lucrative  trade  under  British  protection,  which  they 
longed  to  enjoy.  Nor  did  seamen  and  laborers  in  maritime 
industries  see  the  advantage  of  embargo  over  war.  Em- 
bargo forced  them  to  depend  on  charity  or  to  emigrate  to 
Canada  to  keep  from  starving;^  war  would  have  continued 
or  even  increased  the  demand  for  their  labor.  Before  the 
embargo  had  been  in  force  many  months,  stagnation, 
bankruptcy,  and  distress  were  the  rule  along  the  New 
England  coast.  The  farmers  of  the  interior,  now  that 
exports  had  ceased,  found  their  products  a  glut  on  the 
market,  and  prices  of  imported  goods  greatly  enhanced. 
Except  in  regions  that  profited  by  the  stimulus  to  domes- 
tic manufactures,  there  was  throughout  the  Union  the 
same  state  of  exasperation  and  distress.* 

To  the  Federalist  leaders  in  Massachusetts,  and  especi- 
ally to  the  Essex  Junto,  whose  minds  were  working  in  the 
same  old  mercantile  and  pro-British  groove,  Jefferson's 
embargo  seemed  an  insidious  attempt  to  ruin  New  Eng- 
land's prosperity,  and  to  provoke  England  to  war.  They 
could  not  attribute  to  Jefferson  any  genuine  solicitude  for 

'  Reports  of  John  Howe,  a  British  spy,  in  Am.  Hist.  Rev.,  xvii,  89-90.  Howe 
sarcastically  called  the  embargo  "An  Act  for  the  better  encouragement  of  the 
British  Colonies  in  America." 

*  Professor  Channing,  in  his  Jeffersonian  System,  219,  says  that  "The  oppo- 
sition to  the  embargo  in  New  England  was  mainly  political,"  and  denies  that  it 
caused  great  or  unusual  distress.  The  Federal  party  naturally  made  political 
capital  out  of  the  embargo,  and  exaggerated  its  effects  in  newspapers  and 
speeches.  Much  relief  was  also  obtained  through  smuggling.  But  all  economic 
data  point  to  the  correctness  of  the  statements  I  have  made  above.  Democratic 
leaders  freely  admitted  as  much  in  their  private  correspondence  —  see  the 
Jefferson  and  Adams  MSS.  for  the  period  —  and  foreign  travelers  and  spies 
received  the  same  impression.  Many  communities  that  remained  faithful  to  the 
Democratic  party  all  through  the  embargo  period  suffered  most  seriously  from 
it;  but  they  believed,  like  Jefferson,  that  the  sacrifice  was  worth  while  in  order 
to  coerce  England.  And  the  embargo  converted  to  Federalism  many  communi- 
ties and  sections  that  previously  had  been  Democratic,  viz.,  the  coast  districts 
of  North  Carolina.  Cf.  Mrs.  St.  J.  Ravenel,  William  Lowndes,  75-78;  C.  H. 
Ambler,  Sectionalism  in  Virginia,  87;  S.  Roads,  Marblekead,  230-39. 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  325 

commerce  and  shipping.  From  his  "Notes  on  Virginia" 
it  was  evident  that  he  regarded  commerce  from  the  com- 
bined standpoint  of  a  French  physiocrat  and  a  losing 
farmer,  and  beheved  that  the  bulk  of  New  England's 
carrying  trade  was  a  positive  detriment  to  the  nation.  If 
he  had  since  changed  his  opinion,  why  had  he  steadily 
refused  to  provide  a  navy  for  the  protection  of  com- 
merce; why  had  he  laid  up  the  only  effective  vessels  that 
survived  the  French  naval  war,  only  two  months  before 
the  embargo  was  laid.^*  If  the  embargo  were  for  the  protec- 
tion of  shipping,  why  was  land  traffic  over  the  Canadian 
border  prohibited  .^^  Moreover,  the  Essex  Junto  had  no 
doubt  that  the  embargo  was  laid  at  French  dictation,  in 
order  to  aid  Napoleon  in  his  efforts  to  annihilate  the  Brit- 
ish Empire,  and  was  intended  as  a  mere  prelude  to  war 
with  England.  If  such  were  not  the  case,  why  was  every 
Democratic  newspaper  extolling  Napoleon  and  decrying 
England ;  denouncing  the  Orders  in  Council  (which  the  Es- 
sex Junto  considered  legal  methods  of  retaliation  against 
France),  and  apologizing  for  Napoleon's  far  more  sweep- 
ing Berlin  and  Milan  decrees.'^  Napoleon,  to  these  Fed- 
eralists, was  the  living  embodiment  of  the  forces  that 
threatened  the  property  and  power  of  men  of  their  class 
all  over  the  world.  They  were  willing  to  grant  England's 
every  claim  in  order  to  aid  her  in  her  battles;  willing  to 
accept  gratefully  such  crumbs  of  commerce  as  she  might 
graciously  bestow.  In  spite  of  Jefferson's  presumptuous 
claims,  argued  Timothy  Pickering,  England  had  been  for- 
bearing and  magnanimous  to  the  United  States.  "Al- 
though Great  Britain,  with  her  thousand  ships  of  war, 
could  have  destroyed  our  commerce,  she  has  really  done 
it  no  essential  injury."^ 

^  Pickering's  Letter  to  his  Constituents  (1808).  Cf.  "Essex  Resolutions"  of 
October  6,  1808,  printed  in  Salem  Gazette,  October  14,  1808,  and  in  pamphlet 
form  (Newbur>-port,  1808). 


326  HARRISON  GRxVY  OTIS 

These  arguments  were  tersely  and  effectively  advance  J 
by  Senator  Pickering,  the  leader  of  the  Essex  Junto,  in  a 
letter  dated  February  16,  1808,  to  Governor  Sullivan  of 
Massachusetts.  Recognizing  its  force,  Sullivan  (a  Repub- 
lican) attempted  to  suppress  it,  but  Pickering's  friends 
had  it  printed  early  in  March.  Within  a  few  days  the 
Federalist  party  organizations  throughout  the  state  were 
circulating  thousands  of  copies  of  the  "Letter  from  the 
Hon.  Timothy  Pickering  .  .  .  exhibiting  to  his  Constitu- 
ents a  View  of  the  Imminent  Danger  of  an  Unnecessary 
and  Ruinous  War,"  in  newspapers,  pamphlets,  and  broad- 
sides. ^  Although  similar  arguments  had  disgusted  Massa- 
chusetts in  1804  and  1807,  the  economic  effects  of  the 
embargo  had  now  prepared  the  people's  minds  for  their 
reception.  "The  Embargo  will  touch  their  bone  and  their 
flesh,  when  they  must  curse  its  authors,"  wrote  Pickering 
in  private;^  and  election  returns  of  April,  1808,  proved 
that  for  once  he  had  gauged  correctly  the  feelings  of  his 
constituents.  Jefferson  lost  his  power  over  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts:  the  fruit  of  years  of  labor  and 
caution.  The  Federal  party  secured  a  majority  in  both 
Senate  and  House,  and  returned  Harrison  Gray  Otis  and 
Timothy  Bigelow  to  the  presiding  chairs  from  which  they 
had  been  deposed  two  years  before.  ^  This  election  marks 
the  beginning  of  a  renaissance  of  Federalism,  in  which 
that  party,  so  crushingly  defeated  between  1800  and 
1807,  succeeded  in  establishing  a  powerful  opposition, 
under  the  shelter  of  state  rights,  to  the  Republican  ad- 
ministrations. 

*  See  Dwight's  letter  following  this  chapter;  cf.  H.  C.  Lodge,  Cabot,  379-82; 
Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  XLV,  359;  Kmg,  v,  88. 

^  A^.  E.  Federalism,  367.   Cf.  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  xvii,  747. 

^  The  vote  was  19-17,  and  252-221 ;  not  a  great  majority.  In  the  Senate  then 
elected  Federalist  measures  were  habitually  carried  by  the  Senators  from  Suf- 
folk, Essex,  Worcester,  and  Hampshire  Counties,  voting  against  those  from 
the  rest  of  the  state. 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  327 

The  victory  would  have  been  more  complete  had  Otis, 
as  was  generally  expected,  been  nominated  for  governor 
instead  of  Christopher  Gore.^  This  nomination  was  dis- 
tinctly the  work  of  the  Essex  Junto,  which  had  taken 
Gore  into  its  full  confidence,  but  distrusted  Otis  more 
than  ever,  since  his  memorable  independence  at  the  time 
of  the  Chesapeake  affair.  Gore  was  a  gentleman  of  wealth 
and  culture  who  lacked  the  popular  talents  that  Otis  pos- 
sessed in  so  marked  a  degree.  He  was  over-fond  of  dis- 
plajing  his  great  wealth,  his  oratory  and  manners  were 
stiff  and  formal,  and  his  father  had  been  a  refugee  Tory. 
Further,  he  had  resided  many  years  in  England,  and  his 
religious  views  were  too  liberal  for  the  orthodox  Connecti- 
cut Valley.  ^°  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the 
Democratic  candidate.  General  Sullivan,  a  popular  old 
hero  of  the  Revolution,  was  reelected  to  the  governor- 
ship. 

The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  had  been  in  ses- 
sion barely  a  week  when  its  majority  asserted  itself  by 
expelling  John  Quincy  Adams  from  the  Federal  party. ^^ 
Although  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1803  as 
a  Federalist,  by  a  Federalist  General  Court,  yet  during 
the  past  six  months  Adams  had  gone  completely  over  to 
Jefferson.  He  attended  and  cast  a  vote  at  the  Democratic 

'  "  \Miy  was  not  Mr  Otis,  agreeably  to  the  general  expectation,  selected  as 
the  federal  candidate  for  the  ofBce  of  Governor,  except  that  Mr.  Gore's  British 
attachments  entitle  him  to  a  preference?"  Chronicle,  March  28,  1808.  The 
Democrat  (March  30)  sneers  at  Otis  as  the  dupe  of  the  Essex  Junto.  "They  will 
please  his  vanity,  but  never  gratify  his  ambition."  —  "The  British  faction  will 
never  suffer  one  of  the  descendants  of  old  whigs  to  hold  any  ofBce  of  honor  if 
they  can  help  it." 

1°  "Messrs  Gore  and  Cobb,  you  see,  are  unanimously  set  up.  The  friends  of 
Mr.  Otis  fell  in,  though  sorry  that  the  latter  was  not  fixed  upon  last  year.  As 
you  know,  it  is  not  the  best  nomination  that  could  be  made.  General  Cobb  is 
too  jolly.  Mr.  Otis  is  more  regular  at  church  than  Mr.  Gore."  President  Kirk- 
land  of  Harvard  to  Josiah  Quincy,  Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  xvii,  113. 

"  Worthington  C.  Ford,  "The  Recall  of  John  Quincy  Adams,"  Proc.  Mass. 
Hist.  Soc,  XLV,  354. 


328  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

congressional  caucus  that  nominated  Madison  for  the 
presidency ;^^  he  voted  for  the  embargo;  he  attacked  his 
colleague  Pickering's  arraignment  of  it  in  a  published 
"Letter  to  the  Hon.  Harrison  Gray  Otis  on  the  Present 
State  of  our  National  Affairs,"  which  the  Democratic 
party  circulated  as  a  campaign  document.  If  anything 
under  the  sun  could  signify  a  change  of  party  allegiance, 
these  three  acts  certainly  did;  but  Adams  always  consid- 
ered himself  a  martyr  for  his  expulsion  from  the  Federal 
party,  and  affected  to  believe  that  it  was  a  punishment  for 
his  failure  to  defend  the  Leopard's  attack  on  the  Chesa- 

The  Federal  party  of  Massachusetts  stripped  John 
Quincy  Adams  of  his  colors  by  prematurely  choosing  his 
successor  in  the  United  States  Senate  on  June  2, 1808. 
He  promptly  took  the  hint,  and  resigned  for  the  remainder 
of  his  term.  Otis  was  chairman  of  the  legislative  caucus 
that  nominated,  as  Adams's  successor,  James  Lloyd,  Jr., 
a  Boston  merchant  and  banker  whom  the  Essex  Junto 
trusted ;  yet  he  does  not  seem  to  have  sympathized  with 
that  act.  Otis  and  Adams  both  belonged  to  the  liberal 
wing  of  the  Federal  party,  a  fact  which  the  latter  recog- 
nized in  addressing  to  Otis  his  attack  on  Pickering.  Their 
personal  relations  were  cordial,  though  not  intimate,  and 
there  was  a  traditional  bond  of  friendship  between  their 
families.  Adams  wrote,  in  1829,  that  his  published  Letter 
was  not  entirely  lost  upon  Otis.  "He  never  answered  it, 
and,  for  some  time,  kept  his  opinions  in  reserve."    He 

^^  Adams  wrote  his  mother  on  April  20,  1808,  that  in  spite  of  this  act  it  was 
explicitly  understood  that  he  had  no  intention  to  join  the  party  or  become  a 
partisan  of  either  candidate.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  what  other  object  he 
could  have  had  in  attending  and  voting. 

"  A^.  E.  Federalism,  185.  Adams  had  been  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  Essex 
Junto  for  years,  but  not  more  so  than  Otis.  Stephen  Higginson,  in  1804,  sent 
Pickering  a  private  denunciation  of  Adams  in  almost  the  same  words  with  which 
he  maligned  Otis  in  1797. 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  329 

records  a  conversation  with  Samuel  Allyne  Otis,  in 
which  the  latter  said  that  his  son  "was  mortified  at  the 
electing  of  another  person  in  my  place :  that  his  son  had 
done  everything  in  his  power  to  prevent  it,  but  could  not; 
that  the  tide  ran  too  strong;  that  ''the  Essex  Junto  were 
omnipotent."'  ^^ 

If  Otis  felt  this  way,  argued  Adams,  he  too  should  have 
supported  the  embargo,  especiallj'  since  he  had  promised, 
in  the  town  meeting  of  July  16,  1807,  to  support  any 
measures  judged  necessary  by  the  administration  for  the 
safety  and  honor  of  the  country.  No  doubt  a  conflict  was 
raging  in  Otis's  mind  as  to  the  proper  course  for  him  to 
pursue.  Probably  the  answer  he  would  have  given  Adams 
would  have  been  something  like  this:  "My  joint  pledge 
with  you  in  the  town  meeting  related  to  the  Chesapeake 
affair;  and  I  fulfilled  it  by  loyally  supporting  the  adminis- 
tration while  that  question  was  pending.  Great  Britain 
has  now  disavowed  the  action  of  the  Leopard's  comman- 
der, and  I  consider  that  incident  closed.  I  do  not  oppose 
the  embargo  by  the  same  course  of  reasoning  as  Senator 
Pickering;  I  do  not  share  his  favorable  views  of  British 
policy,  and  I  trust  that  our  administration  is  seeking  nei- 
ther to  serve  France  nor  to  destroy  the  prosperity  of  New 
England.  But  the  embargo  falls  with  undue  weight  on 
the  interests  of  our  native  state,  without  any  correspond- 
ing benefit  to  the  nation.  You  claim  the  embargo  'must 
in  its  nature  be  a  temporary  expedient,' ^^  but  we  know 
that  the  president  intends  it  to  be  a  permanent  policy; 
and  a  permanent  embargo  will  sacrifice  the  very  rights 
for  which  we  are  contending.  You  claim  that  national 
honor  requires  its  united  support,  but  I  see  neither  honor 
nor  dignity  in  this  contemptible  Chinese  policy.  Let  INIr. 
Jefferson  give  us  a  pledge  of  his  sincerity  by  restoring  our 

"  N.  E.  Federalism,  202.  "  Letter  to  the  Em.  E.  G.  Otis,  11. 


330  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

navy  to  the  strength  and  prestige  it  had  in  your  father's 
administration;  let  him  then  seek  justice  from  England 
and  France  through  diplomacy,  and  he  will  have  my  sup- 
port, and,  I  believe,  that  of  the  greater  portion  of  the 
Federal  party.  Meanwhile  I  shall  remain  a  Federalist, 
and  endeavor,  without  your  aid,  to  counteract  that 
British  influence  in  the  party  which  I  deplore  no  less 
deeply  than  yourself." 

Otis's  influence  is  evident  in  the  moderate  course  fol- 
lowed by  his  party  until  the  winter.  Governor  Sullivan, 
in  his  opening  speech  of  the  spring  session,  asserted  that 
Federalist  opposition  to  the  embargo  could  have  but  one 
end  in  view,  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  The  Senate  and 
House  in  reply  contented  themselves,  however,  with  repu- 
diating the  charge,  and  denouncing  a  permanent  embargo 
as  unconstitutional.  In  August  came  news  of  a  change  in 
the  European  situation,  that  made  commercial  restriction 
more  irksome  to  New  England  than  ever  before.  Spain 
had  revolted  against  Napoleon  and  King  Joseph;  Great 
Britain  had  espoused  her  cause;  and  only  the  embargo 
prevented  New  England  shippers  from  supplying  the 
allied  armies  with  provisions.  In  Boston,  a  special  town 
meeting  was  called  for  August  9.  Jonathan  Mason  opened 
it  with  a  motion  requesting  the  President  to  remove  the 
embargo  either  wholly,  or  partially  in  regard  to  Spain  and 
Portugal,  under  a  recent  power  invested  in  him  by  Con- 
gress. Otis,  Gore,  and  Daniel  Sargent  sustained  the  mo- 
tion, which  was  carried  by  a  strong  majority,  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  of  prominent  Democrats.  ^^  An  exceed- 
ingly temperate  set  of  resolutions  was  then  adopted.  The 
inhabitants  express  their  willingness  "to  endure  any  pri- 
vations which  the  public  welfare  may  require,"  and  apolo- 
gize for  not  awaiting  the  meeting  of  Congress,  on  the 

18  Centinel,  August  10,  1808. 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  331 

ground  of  the  change  in  European  affairs,  and  their  press- 
ing desire  for 

relief  from  the  pressure  of  this  great  calamity,  which  bears  with 
pecuhar  weight  on  the  Eastern  States.  —  Denied  by  nature 
those  valuable  &  luxuriant  Staples  which  constitute  the  riches 
of  the  south,  they  necessarily  owe  much  of  their  prosperity 
under  the  Blessing  of  Heaven  to  their  own  enterprise  &  Indus- 
try on  the  Ocean.  .  .  They  therefore  pray  that  the  Embargo  in 
whole  or  in  part  may  be  suspended.  ^^ 

Evidently  Boston  Federalism  was  still  independent 
of  the  Essex  Junto.  In  the  debate,  moreover,  Otis  and 
Mason  argued  that  war  with  England  would  be  preferable 
to  embargo,  ^^  although  Pickering's  principal  objection  to 
the  embargo  was  the  fact  that  it  might  lead  to  war.  The 
Boston  resolutions,  which  were  communicated  to  other 
towns  in  the  state,  produced  a  crop  of  similar  petitions  to 
the  President.  ^^ 

It  soon  became  evident  that  Jefferson  had  no  intention 
of  answering  these  prayers  for  relief.  Jefferson  refused 
to  modify  the  embargo  in  favor  of  the  Spanish  patriots, 
whom  Democratic  journals  denounced  as  "factious  Reb- 
els," both  from  fear  of  offending  Napoleon,  and  from 
a  desire  to  share  in  the  spoils  of  the  Spanish  empire.-" 
This  attitude,  serving  further  to  spread  the  belief  that 
French  influence  was  at  the  bottom  of  Jefferson's  policy, 
produced  a  vigorous  demonstration  of  the  Essex  Junto  in 
favor  of  extreme  measures,  at  an  Essex  County  conven- 

"  Boston  Town  Records  1796-1813.  238. 

18  Chronicle,  August  15,  1808. 

1^  Down  to  September  28, 1808,  at  least  seventy  Massachusetts  towns,  seven 
others  in  New  England,  and  six  in  New  York  had  memorialized  the  President 
against  the  embargo.   Centinel,  September  28. 

20  H.  Adams,  United  States,  iv,  339-42,  385.  Orchard  Cook,  a  Democratic 
member  of  Congress  from  Maine,  wrote  John  Quincy  Adams  on  January  1, 
1809:  "In  short  to  be  plain  —  Mr.  Madison  long  since  told  me  If  we  opened  a 
Trade  with  Spain  &  Portugal  it  would  be  War  with  France  —  &  was  so  laid 
down  by  Vattel."  Adams,  MSS.  Cf.  King,  v,  110. 


332  H.\RRISON  GRAY  _OTIS 

tion  on  October  6.  But  the  Federal  party  as  a  whole  was 
disposed  to  await  the  result  of  the  presidential  election 
before  taking  further  steps  to  end  the  embargo. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  the  Federalist  reac- 
tion continued  in  the  Northern  States.  In  May,  the  New 
York  Federalists  doubled  their  delegation  in  the  state 
assembly  which  was  to  choose  presidential  electors,  and 
placed  themselves  in  a  position  to  combine  with  the  Clin- 
tonians,  who  had  also  adopted  an  anti-embargo  policy. 
When  state  elections  in  the  last  days  of  August  and  early 
September  swung  back  the  rest  of  New  England  into 
the  Federalist  column,  the  prospect  of  electing  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  the  nominee  of  the  Federalist 
national  convention,^^  appeared  excellent  to  Otis's  corres- 
pondents. "It  seems  by  the  accounts  from  all  quarters," 
John  Rutledge  wrote  him  on  September  10,  "that  a  real 
&  great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  public  sentiment  & 
that  we  are  about  to  return  to  the  golden  days  when  the 
government  of  the  Country,  placed  in  the  ablest  &  best 
hands,  will  administer  our  affairs  on  manly  &  correct  prin- 
ciples." Eighty-nine  electoral  votes  were  necessary  for  a 
choice.  Otis's  friends  were  certain  of  New  England's 
forty-five,  of  at  least  ten  from  Delaware  and  the  coast 
districts  of  Maryland  and  North  Carolina,  and  confident 
of  obtaining  Pennsylvania's  twenty  and  New  Jersey's 
eight.  The  nomination  of  a  "favorite  son  "  of  South  Caro- 
lina led  them  to  hope  for  success  in  that  state,  also,  which 
would  have  given  them  a  majority.  But  Pinckney  secured 
only  forty-seven  electoral  votes  to  Madison's  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two.  This  was  a  notable  increase  over  his 
fourteen  votes  of  1804;  but  it  ended  all  chance  of  remov- 
ing the  embargo  by  a  change  of  rulers.  With  the  people  of 
New  England  now  facing  another  winter  of  privation  and 

21  See  chapter  xvi. 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  333 

distress,  President  Jefferson  could  hardly  expect  them 
henceforth  to  confine  their  opposition  within  prudent  or 
constitutional  bounds. 

LETTERS 

JOSIAH   DWIGHT   TO   OTIS 

Northampton  March  16,  1808 
Hon  H  G  Otis  Esqr 

Sir 
In  our  former  letter  we  communicated  to  you  the  anxious 
Sollicitude  that  pervaded  all  classes  of  people  in  this  part  of 
the  Commonwealth,  on  the  subject  of  our  national  affairs. 
Information  received  from  all  quarters,  since  the  date  of  our 
last,  was  uniformly  calculated  to  increase  rather  than  diminish 
the  general  anxiety;  and  the  receipt  of  Colo.  Pickering's  Letter 
has  confirmed  us  in  the  opinion  that  the  Executive  Government 
of  the  United  States  are  resolutely  bent  on  the  pursuance  of 
measures  which  will  bring  ruin  &  destruction  on  the  people.  To 
avert  the  ruin  which  is  now  impending  over  us,  we  think  the 
voice  of  the  people  ought  immediately  to  be  expressed,  in  that 
bold  and  dignified  manner,  which  cannot  be  misunderstood  by 
those  who  mis-rule  the  nation.  Under  this  impression  we  have 
thought  it  wise  &  prudent  to  bring  the  subject  before  the  Inhab- 
itants of  this  place,  assembled  in  Towti  meeting.  After  a 
lengthy,  animated  &  candid  Discussion,  it  was  voted,  almost 
unanimousl3%  that  the  Selectmen  should  prepare  to  forward  to 
Congress  a  Memorial, ^^  &  also  an  address  to  the  several  Towns 
within  the  County,  requesting  this  concurrence  in  similar  meas- 
ures. The  Court  of  sessions  commenced  their  sitting  in  this 
place  yesterday.  A  number  of  Gentlemen  from  different  parts 
of  the  County  are  collected  to  attend  this  Court.  These  gentle- 
men attended  a  meeting  which  was  holden  last  evening,  and  ex- 
pressed their  warm  approbation  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Town, 
at  the  same  time  pledging  themselves  to  use  their  exertions  that 
similar  measures  should  be  adopted  in  the  several  Towns  to 

^2  Northampton  evidently  led  the  way  in  the  policy  of  memorializing  Con- 
gress on  the  embargo.  Cf.  N.  E.  Federalism,  369,  and  Steiner,  McHenry,  546. 


334  HARRISON  GRAY  OTIS 

which  they  belong.  Indeed  each  &  every  one  of  them  declared  his 
sanguine  belief  that  the  minds  of  the  people  in  his  Town  were 
fully  prepared  to  be  active  on  this  subject.  We  have  also 
taken  measures  to  procure  the  printing  &  circulation  of  Colo. 
Pickering's  Letters,  together  with  an  address  from  the  select 
men. 

We  have  thought  proper  thus  far  to  inform  you  that,  in  this 
hour  of  Peril  &  Distress,  the  people  in  this  County  are  at  their 
Posts,  &  are  prepared  to  cooperate  with  their  political  friends  in 
different  parts  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  any  measures  that 
shall  in  wisdom  be  devised  for  the  public  good.  We  know  little 
of  what  is  doing  elsewhere,  tho'  we  have  been  long  anxiously 
waiting  for  information  from  the  "  Headquarters  of  good  prin- 
ciples." It  gave  us  much  pleasure,  however,  to  see  in  the  late 
Boston  Papers,  the  nomination  of  Messrs.  Gore  &  Cobb  for  the 
Offices  of  Govr.  &  Lt.  Gavr.  —  That  the  measures  adopted  by 
us,  &  proposed  for  the  adoption  of  others,  if  generally  carried 
into  effect,  —  w^U  have  any  influence,  to  check  the  mad  career 
of  the  man,  who  now^  rules  with  absolute  sway,  the  councils  of 
the  nation,  may  perhaps  be  somewhat  problematical.  But  even 
should  the  Idol  chief  of  the  dominant  Party  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
our  remonstrances,  &  refuse  us  relief  from  our  anxiety  &  distress, 
we  have  another  object  in  view,  in  the  attainment  of  which 
we  think  these  measures  will  have  a  very  happy  influence.  Colo. 
Pickering's  letter,  tho'  it  contains  little  information  entirely 
new,  yet  coming  in  such  a  form  &  from  such  high  authority,  it  is 
calculated  to  excite  the  attention  of  the  people,  &  rouse  many 
from  that  Lethargy  which  had  almost  fatally  seized  them. 
The  unwarranted  suppression  of  that  letter  also,  by  the  chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth,  when  it  was  expressly  in- 
tended to  be  communicated  to  the  Legislature,  is  a  violation  of 
official  duty  which  ought  to  be  seized  on  wnth  avidity,  &  made 
the  theme  of  popular  clamor,  to  blast  the  reputation  of  the 
man  who  would  thus  dare  to  conceal  from  his  constituents,  a 
document  so  highly  interesting.  We  do  believe.  Sir,  that  if  we 
meet  our  political  enemies  manfully,  with  the  weapons  which 
are  thus  providentially  put  into  our  hands,  it  vnW  insure  us  suc- 
cess at  the  approaching  election.  We  can  assure  you  of  the  ut- 
most exertions  of  all  good  people  in  this  large  County,  &:  we 
think  that  existing  circumstances  justify  us  in  the  belief,  that  a 


JEFFERSON'S  EMBARGO  S35 

greater  number  of  Federalists  may  be  brought  to  the  Polls  than 
in  any  former  year.  ... 

By  order  of  the  corresponding  Committee,  I  am  sir 

Very  respectfully  your  Obedt  Servt 

JOSIAH   DwiGHT 


GEORGE   CABOT   TO    OTIS 

Boston  Augt  14,  1808 
My  Dear  Sir  — 

*         *        *        *        *         *         *         *         *         *         *^^ 

I  recollect  it  was  said  last  winter  that  the  restraints  contem- 
plated on  the  coasting  trade  wou'd  never  be  enacted  because  it 
must  be  foreseen  that  our  people  wou'd  not  tolerate  them  — 
"they  wou'd  seize  upon  the  Castle"  if  it  shou'd  be  used  to  en- 
force such  grievous  measures;  yet  we  find  that  the  passage  of  a 
single  canoe  is  not  allowed  but  by  special  license  &  no  violence 
or  opposition  is  heard  of.  —  the  reason  is  plain  &  Mr.  J  acts 
upon  the  knowledge  of  it.  Mr.  Jefferson  is  the  man  of  the  popu- 
lace &  both  are  gratified  too  well  in  seeing  those  they  hate  hum- 
bled —  the  populace  consider  Mr.  J  their  head,  &  this  silences 
their  complaints,  on  the  whole  I  am  persuaded  if  it  were  not  for 
the  sufferings  brought  on  us  by  the  Embargo  Mr.  J  &  Mr.  M 
wou'd  be  immoveable  —  yet  they  have  managed  ill  for  7  years; 
how  then  can  gentlemen  insist  that  4  years  more  wou'd  produce 
a  contrary  effect?  it  wou'd  not,  experience  as  well  as  reason 
teaches  clearly  that  the  people  will  adhere  to  those  who  are  the 
instruments  of  their  passions  &  will  shun  those  who  wou'd  con- 
troul  them  —  if  Mr.  J  cou'd  at  this  moment  remove  the  embargo 
without  a  quarrel  with  France  I  think  he  cou'd  quarrel  with 
England  in  spite  of  her  equity  &  moderation. 

yours  truly 

G  C 

^'  The  first  part  of  this  letter  relates  to  the  Federalist  presidential  nomina- 
tions, and  is  printed  in  Amer.  Hist.  Rev.,  xvii,  755. 


END   OF   VOLUME   I 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

B  0873M  C002  V001 

THE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  HARRISON  GRAY  OT 


3  0112  025408284 


